


LoveStruck

by Narasa99



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, Drama, F/M, Non-Consensual Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-07
Updated: 2020-08-07
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:21:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 29,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25765105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Narasa99/pseuds/Narasa99
Summary: Emma and the girls go out for a Ladies night to see the new male stripper in town. Everything is not as it seems. Can the men stand up and solve the problem before they lose their happy endings?
Relationships: Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan, Emma Swan/Original Character(s), Prince Charming | David Nolan/Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard
Comments: 3
Kudos: 26





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

Just another day in Storybrooke.

Emma sighed as she lay in bed watching the light stream in through the curtain. Before all of this, "just another day" would have been boring and something to avoid, but a quiet day in her new life was something to be thankful for, a chance to take stock and spend time with her family -with Killian.

It was nice to wake up and know the only thing she had to do today was go to work and answer the inevitably inane calls from the residents of the town about dogs barking too loud or feuds amongst people that have yet to let go of their old lives in the enchanted forest. The only bright side was her lunch date with Killian, a chance to just relax and be herself. It was amazing how after avoiding what they had for so long, hewas now her rock; she couldn't imagine not having him there to confide in, or not being comforted by him, or even him not being there to help with the latest town emergency. As he said himself, they made quite the team. Better get up and face the day, the sooner she got to work, the sooner it was lunchtime.

Arriving at Granny's for her morning coffee, she glanced around to see who was about. The usual suspects were lurking, Whale leaned against the counter, gazing at Ruby like a puppy dog as she served customers. Emma quickly waved her down, Ruby grinned and walked over. "Hey Emma, how goes it?" Emma smiled back, "All good thanks Ruby, not much going on out there. Going to take advantage of the calm before the next big bad hits to put my feet up, do the quality time thing."

"Sounds like a great idea; we should have a girls night!" Ruby's eyes lit up with excitement as she spoke. "I hear there's a ladies night tonight at the Rabbit Hole, we should totally round up Snow and Belle and have ourselves a good time. Apparently there's even a stripper!"

Emma rolled her eyes at Ruby's excitement, "I dunno Ruby, that's not really my scene. Who the hell did they find to strip in town anyway? That doesn't seem like a job that existed in the Enchanted Forest?!"

Ruby just laughed, "well no, but I guess even the gorgeous guys need to earn money somehow."

Emma still wasn't convinced, "How do you know he's gorgeous? Every male stripper I've ever seen was definitely over compensating!"

"Please Emma, just give it a chance! We haven't been out, just the girls, in ages and now you and Hook are snuggle buddies and Snow and Charming have the baby we don't get a chance to just gossip anymore!"

"Fine, fine…I'll pop Mary-Margaret a text and see if she can get a sitter tonight for Neil; David is on call tonight so he can't help." Emma sighed, then smirked at Ruby, "I don't know how I'm going to explain to Killian that we're going to see a stripper tonight, I can see it bruising his ego."

"It'll serve the Pirate right! He needs to learn that he's not the be all and end all of hunks in this town" Ruby cackled. "I'll ask Belle when she comes in for breakfast and we can plan when we're meeting there tonight!"

"No problem, I'll let you know what Mary-Margaret says, text me with timings and I'll catch you later. Thanks for the coffee!" Emma smiled, grabbed her coffee off the counter and strolled outside towards the Sheriff station.

The morning didn't go half as quick as she would have liked, the days always seemed to go slow when she just had paperwork and phone calls over petty squabbles to deal with. Finally though, tell-tale footsteps could be heard from the corridor leading to the office followed by a gorgeously accented deep voice saying "afternoon love".

Emma looked up into the blue-eyed smirking face of her pirate and smiled. Killian bent down to peck her lips as he placed the bag from Granny's on her desk.

"Hey you, I hope you brought me something good?" she smiled up at him as he pulled away, fighting the temptation to pull him back down towards her for a more thorough kiss.

"Oh, am I not enough for you now, Swan?" he responded with a smirk, quirking his eyebrow and giving her a wink for good measure.

"You know what I mean, pirate," she shoved his shoulder.

"Just thought I'd check, grilled cheese and onion rings for milady" he bowed as he handed over her lunch with a flourish.

"and…", "and a hot chocolate with cream and cinnamon" he added as he brought his hand round from behind his back, giving her one of those rare genuine smiles he saved for her and Henry.

"Ughh..You're my saviour" she said between mouthfuls of her grilled cheese as he nodded and sat down at her desk with his lunch. They sat in companionable silence eating their lunch, occasionally chatting about their days.

When Killian finished eating he looked up, and cleared his throat. "So the wolf girl tells me that you are all going out for a 'ladies night' tonight…what exactly does one of these nights entail?"

Emma chuckled, thinking she could probably wind him up a bit with this. "Well.., a ladies night is a night where all us girls put on our nicest clothes, do our hair and makeup and meet up for drinks and gossiping, maybe a bit of dancing and perhaps some flirting, depending on the situation."

"Oh really? Now this does sound intriguing, I must admit I'm not such a fan of the flirting if I'm not on the receiving end, but perhaps I could join you specifically to provide the role for the required situation." He gave her that smile that showed he only had one thing on his mind, tongue sticking out slightly as he looked her directly in the eyes, his blue eyes hinting at what he'd be more than happy to do, and it was definitely more than flirting.

"Uh Killian, you coming along would totally negate the whole 'ladies night' plan, no men allowed, at least not our men! Anyway, I don't think flirting is going to be on the menu tonight. Ruby said there's going to be a stripper at the Rabbit Hole,so I think it's going to be more about the watching and cheering." Oh this should be good…she could already see the confusion on his face.

"A what, Swan? I'm not sure I know what a stripper is?"

"A stripper, a person who takes off their clothes to music for the entertainment of others, in this case, a male stripper."

Killian looked incredulous; he spluttered a bit, "What…uh…Swan…..why on earth would you need to watch a random man take off his clothes for you. Surely if this was some fantasy you've not yet told me about, we can go to the Jolly tonight and I can resolve that issue. I'm not sure I like the idea of these 'Ladies nights'..." His eyes were narrowing and he was getting closer, the jealousy in his eyes obvious. Jeez, how could she forget how territorial he could be, still it was always fun to push his buttons just a little bit.

"Relax Killian, the stripper was Ruby's idea. Every stripper I've seen before didn't hold a candle to you."

"YOU'VE DONE THIS BEFORE? Just how common are these strippers?" he looked offendednow; Emma couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face. This was going to be worth it, just for this conversation.

"They're a normal thing, you get women that do it too," he raised an eyebrow at this, "but it is strictly a look and don't touch kind of thing, so stop worrying, it's just a stupid tradition for these nights out. Nothing is going to happen, and at the end of the night I get to come back to you." She reached out and pulled him the rest of the way towards her. Her back was to the desk, just sitting on the edge of it, and he came forward at her pull and stood between her legs.

"Aye love", he murmured as he lowered his head towards her, "and I'll make you forget all about this damnable 'stripper' that you intend to watch. There's only one body you should be marvelling at, mine…" and then he pressed his lips to hers, deepening the kiss as she gasped. What started as a gentle, soft press of the lips, quickly turned into a fiery branding of her lips, with tongues dulling and passion burning as he ensured that the only thing she could think about was his lips, even if he had to put up with her staring at another man in a bar.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or any of the Characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

Emma looked in the mirror and smiled to herself. She'd never admit it out loud but she did enjoy dressing up and feeling just that little bit feminine on the odd occasion. She'd taken the opportunity to take some time in the shower and doing her hair so it fell in soft curls. She'd even picked out one of her nicer dresses, a knee length red dress she hadn't worn in a couple of years (and was still in its dry cleaning bag after the incident with the perp and a glass of wine). She put the finishing touch to her lipstick looked at herself and nodded, that would do nicely, although she imagined that it wouldn't hold a candle to Ruby who'd been sending her pictures of her dress choices which seemed to be getting more and more revealing with each text…

Emma headed downstairs to meet Mary-Margaret in the kitchen. She'd tried her best between getting everything together for Robin to look after Neil (Roland absolutely loved the baby, and Robin enjoyed lending a hand where he could), and getting herself dressed for a long overdue night out.

"Oh Emma, you look beautiful, you should dress up more often." Mary-Margaret gave her a beaming smile and Emma couldn't be sure but it looked like some moisture was collecting in her eyes…jeez, they should probably get going, she couldn't handle that. At that moment there was a knock on the door and Emma went over to answer it, giving Robin a smile as he gave a slight bow at her.

"Sheriff Swan, you look lovely tonight, I'm sure Killian will be upset to have missed it."

Emma chuckled, "thanks Robin, come in, I think Mary-Margaret has prepped a full list of things for you for tonight."

"NEIL!" a small squeal came from just behind Robin and Roland charged forward into the apartment as Mary-Margaret walked towards the door holding a squirming baby Neil in her arms. Everyone laughed as Neil was lowered towards Roland for him to see and Neil started babbling back at him as he started stroking the baby's hand.

"Oh Robin, ok, I have a basket over there with everything you should need for changing him. I've prepped some bottles and put them in the fridge….." Mary-Margaret started to list off everything a million miles a minute.

Emma just laughed, "Mary-Margaret, I think Robin knows how to look after a baby, it's not like he hasn't looked after Neil before."

Robin smiled, "I will take good care of the little prince your highness, don't fear. Just go and enjoy yourself tonight. I'm sure if there is an emergency I can call David and he will be able to help."

Mary-Margaret looked torn and Emma took hold of her arm and bodily dragged her out of the loft, saying goodbye to Robin and Roland as she went.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

Emma opened the door to the Rabbit hole and was hit by a wall of sound. She heard Mary-Margaret gasp behind her and looked over to see her eyes wide, open mouthed. Emma had to agree, she didn't think she'd ever seen the place this busy.

"Wow, this must be every woman in town!" Emma said in awe.

"Not quite, but it's pretty close", Ruby charged forward to grab her arm and drag her towards a table that Belle was jealously guarding from lurkers trying to grab the last of the good spaces left in the bar. "I've grabbed us all shots to start off the night, I hope you still like tequila", Ruby's eyes gleamed at Emma as she said it. Emma grimaced remembering her hangover from one of the last nights out she'd had with Ruby. This could end up messy if they gave her free reign again tonight. Then again she can still remember Killian's profuse thanks to Ruby the next morning as he dragged Emma into the diner for coffee after she'd appeared at the Jolly to show him just how much she'd wished he'd been at the bar with them.

"I'll grab us some proper drinks", Mary-Margaret murmured from beside her.

Emma nodded her thanks and asked for a beer, if you couldn't trust your mother to ensure you drank sensibly who could you?

"So, is there really a stripper tonight?" Belle asked, trying to hide the eagerness from her expression.

"Why else would all the women in town descend on this dive tonight if there wasn't?" Emma responded drily. "Who is this stripper anyway, anyone we've heard of? Please don't tell me it's Humpty Dumpty or something insane like that? I'd always wondered why he was on that wall…"

"No Emma," Ruby sighed, "It's not anyone we've heard of, his name is Alex apparently, I don't think I've ever even seen him at Granny's, and Humpty Dumpty was working look out for a band of thieves, everyone knows that!" She rolled her eyes at Emma just as Mary-Margaret came back with their drinks. "Here's to a long overdue night out", Ruby raised her tequila shots and Emma, Belle and Mary-Margaret reciprocated, chinking their glasses in the middle of the table before downing them. Mary-Margaret started spluttering, causing Ruby and Emma to chuckle, she never could quite handle shots.

They spent 10 minutes observing the other patrons and commenting on outfits and the latest gossip before the lights started to go down and a spotlight landed on a stage that had been (somewhat ambitiously) set up at one side of the bar. Emma suddenly realised that Ruby really had grabbed prime real estate with their table, they'd have a perfect view of the stage from their spot, she sighed, best get this over with, it probably wouldn't be the worst view she'd had in her life.

A voice came over the PA system welcoming them to their evening's entertainment just as the opening bars of Cowboy started up…Kid Rock, how original…. The women around her started to cheer and clap as a man walked on the stage dressed in a cowboy outfit, complete with cowboy hat and gun belt slung low around his hips. He was tall, maybe 6"4, 6"5, slim built with sandy blond hair. His face was angular, and Emma had to admit that objectively he was quite attractive; this might not be such a bad show after all. He definitely wasn't her normal style though, and didn't hold a candle to Killian, but still, there were no rules against enjoying the view when it was freely available.

He stalked towards the front of the stage, hips gyrating as he moved to the music. He seemed to have a good idea of what to do, maybe this did happen in the enchanted forest, it certainly seemed like he'd done this plenty of times before. Next to her Ruby was cheering and whistling as he slowly unbuttoned his shirt. Mary-Margaret was clapping and laughing, about as chagrined about this whole situation as Emma. Belle just seemed to be gawping as his toned chest and stomach were slowly being revealed from under his shirt, I guess that's not a sight she really got to see with Gold… a small shudder going through her as she realised what she'd just considered… no, just no…

As he started to tease the women with the buttons to his trousers, his shirt having been thrown into the crowd of squealing women at the base of the stage, his eyes making contact with women as he teased, the heat in the room increased. Emma noticed that many of the women near the stage had a predatory gleam in their eyes as they screamed for him to take the trousers off, geez, these women apparently weren't getting any outside of this. She heard Ruby next to her scream "JUST TAKE THEM OFF ALREADY", and snorted into her beer, Ruby was definitely getting in to this too. She glanced over at Belle and Mary-Margaret and noticed they were both just staring at the stage with a glazed look in their eyes as they watched his movements. There was another cheer from the women as the trousers were taken off and a scrabble near the front where they'd landed in a group all fighting to have them to themselves. Emma hoped it wouldn't get messy in here; it'd be awkward having David come in and see his wife staring like that at another man. Was she the only one who was perfectly satisfied with the gorgeous pirate waiting for her on his ship after all of this?

The noise seemed to reach a new level of screaming which brought Emma's eyes back up to the stage. The hat had come off and was now being held in front of his crotch, ready for the inevitable removal of the G-string (ughh really?) that had been hidden underneath his trousers. Emma rolled her eyes and looked up at his face, just in time for her eyes to connect with his. Emma froze as she looked in to his brown eyes; wait were they brown, maybe they were more gold, greedily staring right at her. Emma felt warm and couldn't take her eyes away from his as they stared each other down. A pleasant buzz started to play in her brain and she felt herself start to smile and blush and he returned the smile with a predatory grin of his own. Maybe she was wrong, he was very attractive, and maybe G-strings were underrated, she'd certainly like to know what was underneath his…wait where had that thought come from. Just as quickly as that flicker of confusion kicked in to her brain it was gone as he winked at her and then looked away, continuing his teasing with the hat and G-string. Emma was upset, why wasn't he looking at her anymore, she was far more attractive than the other women in here! By the time the performance reached its crescendo she was screaming and cheering with the best of them, anything to get him to look back her way.

There was a tangible air of disappointment in the bar when the performance had finished, as well as a buzz of tension from the room full of women, all of them wound up from the performance they'd just witnessed. Ruby looked at them and exhaled, "wow…that was…"

"Yeah, I know…the enchanted forest sure knows how to grow them" Emma responded, still feeling flushed from the experience. Those eyes were beautiful, and that body…god what she wouldn't give to run her fingers down that torso… they were stood outside when she snapped her wandering imagination back to reality. She waved goodbye to Ruby and Belle (still somewhat dazed and certainly not paying attention to what they were saying) and walked in silence with Mary-Margaret back to the loft, still thinking of a pair of those golden eyes roving over her body and what she'd let him do if she could get him on his own, all thoughts of her own Pirate waiting for her on his ship forgotten….


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

*Bang, Bang, Bang*

"SWAN!"

*Bang, bang, bang*

"EMMA?!"

What the hell?! Emma started to stir in bed to the racket going on downstairs. Couldn't a girl sleep off a night out in peace? She could hear grumpy footsteps storming towards the door, that would be David then….

"What the hell Hook?"

Killian had been about to bang his fist against the door again, hell, he was about to kick down the damn door before it swung open to a suitably pissed Prince.

"Dave mate, is Emma home? Is she ok?" He didn't have time for pleasantries with _his royal highness_ , Emma had never showed up last night, that wasn't like her. He'd waited up for hours in case she'd just got caught up at the Rabbit hole, but she hadn't appeared, hadn't sent him a message on the "phone" she'd got him, nothing...

"Yes, she's upstairs sleeping. Why? What's with the panic?" David looked bemused. Not exactly how he'd planned to wake up this morning, but the look on Hooks face was enough to give him pause.

"What is going on?" the sound of Mary-Margarets voice broke through the confused stand-off at the front door, David turned around to explain but Killian beat him to it.

"Apologies for the interruption m'lady, I had been expecting the company of your fair daughter last night," David swung his head back around to him and grimaced, Killian ignored him and continued, "however, when she failed to arrive and left me with no communication as to her other plans I became concerned that something may have occurred while you were out on the town."

A small part of him that he tried to ignore still whispered his other concern, that perhaps she'd enjoyed the company of the women and potentially other men and had decided that there were better options than his company at the end of an evening. He could never quite believe his luck that she'd actually reciprocated his feelings and that he even got to wake up to her sleeping face more mornings than not these days. That being said, he was still waiting for her to realise how unworthy of her attentions he was, but until that point, he'd ensure he made the most of her attentions, because gods above he was lost to any other woman at this point.

Mary-Margaret blushed, "Well, I'm afraid to say I think the evening got away from us last night. I think Emma was as tired as I was by the end of the evening and crawled into bed to sleep the minute we got back. I'm sure she didn't mean anything by it."

"Aye, well I thought I would check up just to be sure." Killian had the grace to look sheepish for kicking up such a fuss and nodded gratefully at Mary-Margaret.

Just as he finished speaking, he heard footsteps marching down the stairs and Emma appeared by the kitchen counter. He had to admit she was very distracting with her hair still sleep mussed wearing a tank top and PJ bottoms, but the look on her face indicated that regardless of his thoughts, she was not pleased.

"What the hell Killian?!" Like father like daughter then….Killian winced, perhaps he had overreacted…

"We'll leave you guys to sort this out….." Mary-Margaret's voice cut through the tension between them and made Emma glance over at her mother and nod her thanks. "David…." Mary-Margaret's arm reached out and grabbed his arm, dragging him back towards their sleeping area. He seemed reluctant, still staring daggers at Killian, but conceded to another stronger tug from his wife and followed her out.

Killian sighed, "Swan, I'm sorry to make such a racket this morning, I was just concerned when you didn't arrive last night and I received no message." He racked his hand through his hair and looked at her, grimacing.

Emma exhaled and shook her head, "No, I'm sorry, that was rude of me. You were waiting up and I should have at least sent you a text saying that I wasn't coming round last night. I didn't mean to worry you."

His eyes softened and he gave her a slight smile, she could forgive him anything when he gave her that face., even waking her up at…she glanced at the clock…crap, 11 o'clock? He'd been kind, she knew he woke up with the sun, he'd obviously been holding himself back from storming over here and demanding answers.

He started walking towards her with that face and she could feel her heart melting. "It's alright lass, I've always said this, what we have, it was on your terms, and if you didn't feel that you wanted to see me last night then that's fine. I understand. I would just appreciate a little notice if you decide against an evening's assignation…" He lifted his hand to brush some hair from her face and gave her a small resigned smile.

Now it was her turn to sigh, "Killian….that's not what happened and you know it. I'm sorry, I was just tired, had a few too many drinks and by brain just sort of stopped working. When the evening ended at the bar it took everything I had to even walk home and crash in bed, apparently I can't handle an evening out anymore." She gave him a wry smile and shrugged at her last statement. "How about I make it up with you and we go grab lunch at Granny's?"

Killians face brightened at the proposal, "Aye, that sounds like an idea. I'll let you get ready and meet you there in half an hour."

She looked up at him with a smile, staring in to his blue eyes, brightened with the prospect of spending lunchtime with her. In the back of her mind gold eyes flashed at her alongside a smirk and she grimaced at the memory.

"Swan? Emma? Are you sure you're alright?" Killian was concerned again, whatever had just crossed his Swans mind had distracted her and she didn't seem happy about it.

"What?" She snapped her focus back to him but he could still see she was distracted by something. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'll see you in half an hour." She gave him a brief smile before turning to walk upstairs.

He nodded at her retreating form, concern still nagging at him. Whatever it was that had her distracted he hoped she would confide in him soon, she seemed to be retreating back within herself again. Just when he thought she was starting to open up….


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

Emma walked in to Granny's and glanced towards her usual booth looking for Killian. He looked up and waved from his seat and she smiled and walked towards him. As she walked towards him she glanced over at Ruby who nodded and grinned at her, did that woman never struggle with the morning after the night before?

Killian smiled at her as she sat down over from him. "Swan, glad you could emerge from your slumbers long enough to join me", he smirked at her and she rolled her eyes.

"Are you going to tell me that you've never needed to sleep in after a few drinks?" she raised her eyebrow at him, daring him to deny it.

He huffed, "Of course not Swan! It's just been a long time since I've been that much of a light weight." He winked at her, but just as she was about to respond Ruby came over with their lunch. "I took the liberty of ordering you a repast suitable for your recovery."

Emma looked down at her plate as she thanked Ruby, a plate of grilled cheese with extra onion rings. Perhaps she should explain to him she can eat something other than this.

"Thank you", she gave him a small smile, "I really am sorry about last night, I don't know what came over me. I should have let you know that I wasn't coming over."

Killian reached over to take her hand in his. "Emma, it's already forgotten." He looked her in the eyes, concern clear in his gaze, "but please, tell me what was wrong this morning. I can tell when something's bothering you."

Emma winced, then sighed. "I'm sorry Killian, I don't know what's going on at the moment, I was just distracted this morning. It was nothing."

"Emma, if we're moving too fast for you, if you want me to slow down, or you just want some space, please just let me know. I'll always be here for you, I'm not going anywhere", he squeezed her hand and gave her a shy smile.

"Don't, Killian, just don't." She moved her other hand so that she was holding his one hand in both of hers. "We've talked about this, I want you. No one else, just you. You make me happy and nothing is going to change that."

She gave him a genuine smile and leaned across the table to give him a soft kiss on the lips. She felt his hand come up to tuck in her hair, trying to deepen the kiss. She smiled against his lips and pulled back slightly, hearing him sigh and looked up to see his eyes still closed. She chuckled, "not here pirate, later," and gave him another quick peck by pulling back completely.

He chuckled as his eyes opened to look at her, eyes blown wide with desire. "Minx".

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

After lunch, Killian had to head to the docs to work on the Jolly Roger, leaving Emma at Granny's chatting to Ruby at the counter over a hot chocolate. It was nice to have a day off to not worry about what was going on in town, just relax and spend time with her friends.

Just as she finished laughing at Ruby's anecdote over one of the crazy customers that had come over with the second curse and their confusion over this worlds food, the bell at the door jingled and something told Emma to look up and see who had come in, right in to the pair of golden eyes that had been lingering in the back of her mind all morning.

The man in question smiled a predatory smile and started walking towards the pair of them coming to a halt just in front of Emma.

"Good afternoon Ladies, what travesty has left the pair of you by yourselves on this lovely afternoon?" Emma felt her breath catch as she looked up at him, hearing a similar reaction from Ruby. Strangely, knowing that Ruby had the same reaction caused a flash of irritation to run through her.

"Well, Ruby here was just keeping me company but I'm sure she has to get back to work, I've been using up enough of her time." Wow, had she just said that….she heard Ruby huff next to her and turned to look at her best friend staring daggers at her.

"Actually, it's still quite quiet here…"

"RUBY!" Granny yelled from the kitchen, Ruby sighed looking over at Alex, glancing at Emma with a grimace and walked back towards the kitchen.

Alex chuckled and carried on looking at Emma. Emma was surprised by the intensity of his stare, and even more surprised by the warmth it seemed to be triggering in her. _Think of the pirate, think of the pirate…._

The minute he started talking all thoughts of Killian were gone.

"So….you looked like you were enjoying the show last night," he said sliding in to the seat next to her and raising an eyebrow in her direction.

"Yeah, uh, it was nice to get out and do something a bit different with my friends. We don't generally get strippers here in Storybrook. Is that something you did in the enchanted forest before the curse?" She was trying to keep the conversation general, but she was genuinely curious as to whether this was something that happened back there.

He huffed a laugh, "not exactly, but regardless of what I did, women need someone to help them with their needs as much as men." As he said it, he turned to look at her, that intensity returning to his eyes his fingers shifting across the bar drumming lightly on it.

Emma coughed, "yeah, I guess you're right there," she was getting uncomfortable with her response to him, this shouldn't be happening. She was happily 'somethinged' with Killian (OK they didn't exactly have a label but it was exclusive and it was a thing and that's really all they needed for now.) Why was she having this reaction to another guy, but there was something about him that kept drawing her in, and she needed to fight it, she wasn't that kind of woman.

"Look, I..uh….it's nice to see you…with some clothes on,"she blushed, "Oh god, I didn't mean…ugh, ok, it's good to see you around, I've got to head out now, but I'll see you around I guess." There, that was fine wasn't it, she gave herself a mental pat on the back.

He nodded, eyes never leaving hers, and a small smile graced his face. "Yes, you will see me again, I assure you of it."

Emma shivered at his words, and fought to get her feet moving. Enough was enough; she needed to get out of there and back to normal. She should see Killian tonight, yes that was it, that would get everything back to normal. Killian was who she wanted, no one else.

She headed back to the loft to keep herself busy until she could head over to see him later that evening. Shaking her head as she walked out of Granny's to refocus her thoughts. Those intense golden eyes always lurking at the back of her thoughts.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

Killian was lounging on his bed with a book when he heard a tentative knock on his door. He got up and strolled over to the door, opening to see Emma standing there with a shy look on her face.

"I'm sorry if you're busy; I just figured since last night was a bust I could come over tonight and make it up to you properly."

"By all means Swan, come on in, I would never refuse an offer of your company." He waved his arm in a welcoming gesture to the captain's quarters and she moved past him in to the room, arms hugged around her as she turned to look at him as he closed the door.

"Killian, I'm sorry again for last night, you know I care for you don't you? I would never intentionally blow you off like that." She still seemed so nervous about it but Killian knew, as much as she would be loathed to admit it, she needed him as much as he needed her, and that could lead to some raw wounds where real emotions should be.

"Swan…Emma," he walked up to her and cupped her cheek in his hand, "I've already said to you, I understand, and while my ego was admittedly a bit bruised by your apparent lack of interest in my prowess, I know I'll just have to make sure I burn it in to your memory next time so that it doesn't slip your mind again…." As he finished talking his voice got deeper and he moved towards her for a kiss.

Emma could see his eyes dilating with lust as he moved towards her and tilted her head up to meet his lips.

The kiss started soft, before Emma's hands moved to brush against his firm chest and Killians hand moved to run his fingers through her hair, hook resting on her hip as he pulled her body flush with his. As his tongue stroked her lips she opened her mouth to allow his tongue entry, the kiss deepening as their tongues met and her hands moved from his chest to run over his shoulders and behind his head, carding through his soft hair.

Killian groaned and started walking her back towards the bed, not breaking the kiss as they moved. As the back of Emma's legs hit the bed they broke the kiss, both breathing heavily and Emma looked up into his eyes. They both shared a smile as Emma started to lower herself down on the bed, one hand twisted in his shirt to drag him down with her. Killian followed her down, bracing himself over her and moving down to kiss her again. After a few moments, Killian moved to start kissing down her jaw before moving to her neck, sucking lightly at her pulse point, drawing a gasp from Emma. She moved to start undoing the buttons of her shirt to gain access to his bare chest. Fumbling a bit she finally got them open and pushed the shirt back off his shoulders, running her hands over the top of his back and getting a low growl in response as he bit down on her neck where he'd been suckling. He pulled back long enough to totally shuck the shirt from his arms and throw it across the room before moving to kiss her at the top of her chest where her top left it bare, moving his hand and hook to the bottom of her top to lift it up so he could gain better access to her breasts. Emma sat up as he pulled the top over her head and once off, he wrapped his left arm around her waist, pulling her towards him as his mouth closed on one of her covered breasts, while his hand played with the nipple of the other. She pushed herself further in to his grasp, enjoying the attention and letting herself get lost in the sensations he was evoking in her.

She shuffled forwards so that she was straddling his legs, hand moving behind his head to push his mouth tighter in to her breast as their lower bodies rubbed against each other. She could feel how turned on he was, his erection hard underneath his jeans, causing delicious friction as she rubbed up against him, making her to groan at the combined sensations.

"Gods, Emma, can you feel what you do to me," he gasped as she rubbed forward against him again, moving his head up to kiss her, and tweaking her nipple to make her gasp in to his mouth. He lowered them back down so that he was lying on top of her, dry humping like teenagers as they continued kissing. At the rate they were going she was going to come before they'd even got much further than this!

Killian broke the kiss and started kissing a trail down between her breasts and down her abdomen towards where her jeans sat low on her hips, stopping as he reached the top of them. He popped the button and undid the zipper, pushing them lower down to reveal her underwear beneath. Emma bit her lip in anticipation as his hot breath brushed against her covered clit. When she continued to just feel his breath and nothing else she glanced down to find him looking up at her with a smirk.

"I want you to watch Swan, see what I'm doing to you as well as feel it." She nodded in response, too far gone to say anything.

She watched him lower his head towards her mound and felt his finger push aside the material covering her clit and lick her. She gasped and closed her eyes, tilting her head back at the feel of him finally touching her where she needed him. When nothing else happened she looked down again to find a stern look on his face.

"I said watch Swan, or you don't get anything from me", she forced herself to focus on him and keep her eyes open as he moved back down to lick her again, brushing his fingers against her opening as he continued to lick and occasionally suck on her clit. Watching his dark head move as he pleasured her was such a turn on, his eyes occasionally looking up to meet hers, dark with desire, hardly any blue was left they were blown so wide. The sensations started to build and she could start to feel her orgasm build, she started to squirm and then she felt Killian push two fingers inside her as he continued to lick, curling them inside her to reach that spot that felt amazing. She started to grind down on his fingers chasing the release she knew was coming, and as if knowing what she needed, his mouth on her clit became rougher, occasionally nipping.

Stars started to appear in her eyes as she started to hit the edge, her breathing becoming ragged and her head tilted back as the sensations washed over her. Just as she went over, a pair of golden eyes flashed in to her mind, a smirk on his lips as she heard a voice say "Come for me, I want to see you come…"

The last thing she managed to gasp as she went over the edge was "ALEX!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

"ALEX!"

Killian froze, the only sound in the room was their shared panting as he stared down at her.

Emma seemed as shocked by what she'd said as he was, she stared at him with wide eyes and all her brain could think was _oh shit oh shit oh shit..._

She stared in to his eyes and watched the emotions flit across his face, confusion, sadness and then anger. He narrowed his eyes, tightening his hand in her hair as he moved his face close to hers, getting control of his breathing.

"What did you say?" his voice was deceptively calm, his face so close to hers that she could feel his breath on her face.

"Killian…I…What?" her thoughts were running a mile a minute, why had that name come to her mind, what was going on? But those thoughts were warring with others that flashed with golden eyes and a smirk that was pleased that she was thinking of him, even in the arms of her lover. Her brows drew together in confusion as she tried to focus her jumbled thoughts. She couldn't focus; she couldn't put together a single line of thought to process what was going on. She pushed at Killian, trying to sit back on the bed and away from him but Killian held tight.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY!" pulling her hair back so that she was looking directly at him, he virtually spat the words. All semblance of Killian was gone; this was Captain Hook staring at her, eyes blazing ice blue at her.

"Killian…" her lip trembled, and tears started to form, "I'm sorry…I…I don't know why, what's going on…I didn't mean…"

"Stop, just stop…" he let go of her hair, pushing her away from him and got up from the bed, he stalked across the room to grab his trousers from the floor. Once he'd pulled them on he spun around to look at her. "What I want to know, Princess" sarcasm dripping at the official title…"was this all a big joke to you? Fuck the pirate while looking for something better? It's ok, he's only a pirate and he'll be easy to string along to help me get off while I find someone more worthy of my time?"

"What? Killian no, you know that's not the case! Please, listen to me, I didn't mean that, I don't know why I said that, it's you, only you." She reached out for him trying to get the connection back, but he just shrugged her away and moved to the other side of the room to sit on a chair. He raked his hands through his hair and looked at her; Emma could see the hurt in his eyes, mixing with his anger.

"Calling out someone else's name at climax doesn't do much for a man's ego love…you obviously weren't thinking of me and forgive me for my self-confidence but I don't think that's my fault. I think…"he took a breath and sighed, scrubbing his hands over his face, "I think you need to leave."

Emma nodded, tears falling slowly down her cheeks, "Killian I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Swan, don't…I'm going to go up on deck to check the rigging, when I come down again I want you dressed and gone. I think we should leave it a couple of days before we talk, let us both calm down." Without another word, he reached for his shirt, and walked out the door of his cabin shrugging the shirt over his head as left leaving Emma sat on the bed staring after him.

She sniffed, putting the heel of her hand to her forehead and shaking her head, trying to focus her thoughts. She needed to get dressed and get out, there was no point in riling Killian up further when he was like this, let him cool down and then they could talk.

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Mary-Margaret was sat at the counter at Grannies chatting to Ruby while she waited for David to meet her on his lunch break. Ruby was always the most reliable source for town gossip, and even though they weren't officially rulers in Storybrook, it was always worth knowing what was happening with their subjects daily lives.

The bell on the door rang and Mary-Margaret looked up towards David with a smile. He strolled over and gave her a kiss before leading her to their booth with a nod over towards Ruby.

"Red give you any good gossip?" David smiled, taking her hand and stroking his thumb over the top.

Mary-Margaret chuckled, "No, not really, same old same old I'm afraid. Little squabbles as per usual, but I'm sure you've heard about most of it at the sheriff station."

David huffed a laugh, "true, still, there's always stuff happening under the radar. Anyways, you still haven't told me how your girls night out went. It didn't get too messy I hope?"

"Ah ah, Snow, you can't gossip about a girl's night to our gentlefolk. That's one of the cardinal rules!" Ruby interrupted with a grin as she placed their orders in front of them.

The door dinged and Ruby glanced up to see the new arrival, straight into the eyes of Alex. "Speaking of which..."she gave a wolfish grin and walked over to greet him.

"Two times in one day, aren't I the lucky girl." He looked down at her and smiled, golden eyes glinting.

"Yes you are my dear, what a pleasure to see you again. If you don't mind, I'd rather like to join you at the counter for a coffee and get to know you better." He placed a hand on the small of her back and led her back towards the counter.

From their booth, Mary-Margaret glanced up and noticed Alex walk across the room with Ruby. A pang of jealousy lanced through her, surprising her. Why would she care, she had David right across from her, her True Love, she should be glad that Ruby was getting some attentions from one so handsome. And yet…she couldn't bring herself to turn back and pay attention to David, too busy devouring the sight of the man currently walking across the room.

"Snow..Snow…Mary-Margaret" David tightened his grip on her hand to try and draw her attention back, her eyes seemed to be trained on the movement of that guy Red was talking to. Perhaps Snow was concerned about the guy and his interest in Red. He leaned over the table and cupped her chin, turning her back to face him, noticing that her eyes seemed to be unusually unfocused. "Snow…are you ok?"

Her eyes snapped back to focus on him, placing her hand on his wrist to move his hand from her chin. "I'm fine David, sorry, just tuned out for a moment there." She smiled at him, but it didn't seem to quite reach her eyes.

"Do you know him?" he nodded his head towards Alex.

"What him? No, he was just the stripper at the bar the other night, no one important why?"

"Well you seem remarkably interested in him, for being just a stripper at the bar." His brows furrowed together as he tried to see what was going through her head.

Mary-Margaret glanced back over towards Alex, "Well he's fascinating isn't he," she shook her head trying to clear the thoughts running through them, she glanced back at David, seeing the spark of jealousy going through his eyes as he looked at her, "I mean, well, it's interesting that he's taken an interest in Red. I'm glad there seems to be a nice guy paying her attentions, far better than Dr Whale."

"Really, Ok, I'm not sure how a stripper is better than Dr Whale, but ok." He looked in to her eyes again, narrowing his own trying to read her. "Are you sure that's all that's bothering you. You seem distracted?"

"I'm fine David, really." Mary-Margaret smiled and squeezed his hand on the table. "Guess I'm just a bit tired."

"Ok, well I have to get back to work. I'll see you back at the loft tonight yeah?" He smiled to her, cupping her cheek, she nodded. "Call me if you need anything." David leaned forward to kiss her, and at the last moment, Mary-Margaret tilted her head slightly so that they kissed each other on the cheeks.

"I'll see you tonight David." David looked down at her again, slightly confused at her last minute move away. She still seemed distracted, but then again, with Neil's midnight feeds and the constant demand on them both he understood that they were both a bit off their game at the moment. He gave her a last look, nodded and walked back out towards the station, shaking his head. It was probably just him being paranoid….yes, definitely just him.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

Killian walked back in to his cabin after he was sure that Emma had left. The scent of their earlier activities washed over him as he wandered across the room to look at the mess that was his bed. He sighed and shook his head, what had that been about, he didn't understand. He knew he'd been harsh to her but he was hurt, he'd thought they'd moved forward with their relationship, but apparently she had other men on her mind while they were being intimate. She'd been distracted since that night at the bar, perhaps she'd met someone, she'd mentioned about flirting being an activity generally undertaken at these "girls nights", maybe she found someone better while they were out that night. His head spun with all the possibilities, maybe he'd done something to upset her and she was rethinking their relationship.

He sighed and scrubbed his face with his hands, his thoughts running a mile a minute. He needed a drink; that was the best solution for this. If he drank he wouldn't have to think, if he couldn't think, he couldn't contemplate all the possible ways that he'd screwed this up or why Emma had apparently lost interest in him.

He huffed as he stalked across the room, grabbing his coat as he went, and stormed out of his cabin slamming the door behind him.

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Emma sat at the kitchen counter in the loft staring at her rapidly cooling mug of hot chocolate. What the hell had happened back there, her mind was running over everything that happened at Killian's. She had a hollow feeling in her gut, but another part of her kept telling her it was ok, she didn't need him anyway, but that didn't make sense, why would she think that? She needed Killian, he had always been there for her. Ok so she hadn't always been so big on returning his feelings, but they finally made it to a good place so of course she had to go and screw it up.

What she wanted to know was why she couldn't get Alex out of her head, sure, objectively, he was stunning, his body was to die for, and she'd love to have him all to herself just so she could…..wait, why did her thoughts keep going in that direction every time she thought about him…really? She sighed and took another sip of her hot chocolate, grimacing at the tepid liquid,and got up to put the mug in the microwave. Slamming the door and taking her irritation out on the buttons, she turned to lean against the kitchen counter just as the door opened and a smiling Mary-Margaret made her way in. Her face fell as she saw the grimace on Emma's.

"Emma, what happened?" she walked towards Emma, face full of concern.

Emma sighed and shook her head, turning around to retrieve her hot chocolate when the microwave beeped.

"Re-microwaved hot chocolates? Something must be really wrong if it survived this long." Mary-Margaret gave her that concerned mum look that grated on Emma. She knew she cared, but having survived for 28 years without that look, it wasn't something she was really used to dealing with. It was times like this when she missed Mary-Margaret her friend, she could talk to her about her problems, but talking to her mum about calling out another guy's name in bed was just wrong on so many levels **.**

She sighed and looked at her mum, "Killian and I had a fight, it was…." She put her mug down and crossed her arms, taking a deep breath. "It was stupid, it was _definitely_ my fault." Mary-Margaret raised her eyebrows but didn't say anything.

"It's just….something's wrong, I don't know. I screwed up, and now he's pissed off with me….maybe he's right, we just need a break before we sit and talk it out. To be honest we don't really talk that much when we're together, maybe that's the problem…"

Mary-Margaret grimaced, "Ok, first, I don't think I wanted to know all of that information…, secondly sometimes you need the time apart to decompress and then yes, talking is the best solution. I've seen you two together, Hook loves you, and I think you're in further than you want to admit _._ You'll find your way back to each other." She walked forward and put her hand on the top of Emma's arm, rubbing it gently to reassure her.

Emma nodded and gave her a small smile. "Thanks Mary-Margaret, I think I'm going to take this drink, put on some comfy slouch clothes and watch a movie, want to join me?"

"Sure, why not. Ella will be dropping off Neil soon but David won't be back until later so I think a bit of a girls night in could do us both some good." She gave Emma a bright smile. "Did you want to get some takeout from Granny's to have for dinner? I was in there earlier and Red was getting quite chatty with that guy Alex from the Rabbit Hole."

Emma glanced up at Mary-Margaret, a pang of jealousy lancing through her chest at her words before she could even process what had been said properly.

"Oh? That's interesting, I'll have to try and find out what's going on between them. I'll go down and pick up the food if you want?" Something was telling her to go down there and intervene before Ruby got her claws in to Alex. Not for her own personal gain of course, definitely not, just protecting Alex from getting his heart broken by Ruby who probably only wanted a quick screw….wow, when had she become such a bitch about her best friend!

"Ah, no it's ok, I can go down and pick it up, I wanted to ask Red something anyway," Emma couldn't quite figure out the expression on Mary-Margaret's face, if she didn't know better she'd say it was irritation, but it was gone just as quickly as it appeared.

"No, seriously, you have to wait for Neil to get back, it's no big deal, I'll run down there quickly now and pick something up for us all and get comfy afterwards." She walked towards the door and grabbed her jacket. "The usual yeah?" She glanced back at Mary-Margaret who nodded distractedly in her direction while staring out the window. Emma frowned, but figured Mary-Margaret was probably just tired, she'd see how she was when she came back from Granny's. Emma made record time leaving the loft in hopes of catching Alex before he left.

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David was sat in the sheriff's station counting down the minutes until he could head back to the loft for a quiet night in with Mary-Margaret and Neil. The problem with Storybrooke was when it was quiet, it was too damned quiet and doing paperwork did not make the time pass quickly. Five minutes before he was due to pack up and leave, the phone rang and his heart sank, why did things always happen just before he wanted to leave.

"Sheriff's station, David speaking, how can I help." He tried to hide the irritation in his voice but he didn't think he was quite successful.

"Uhh David…you might want to get down to the Rabbit Hole…we've got a bit of an issue down here." The nervous voice of the barman came over the phone, and in the background he could hear glass smashing and an accented voice he knew well yelling something.

He sighed, "I'll be over as quickly as I can, just try to calm him down." The barman responded inthe affirmative and David hung up the landline as he grabbed his keys and phone, texting Mary-Margaret that he was going to be late.

The scene that greeted him at the Rabbit Hole left his mouth agape for a moment, a couple of tables on their side with the glasses smashed on the floor, Hook sat on his own at the bar glaring at a glass of rum. **T** he bar was quiet, but he couldn't tell whether that was because of Hook or because he just chose a good time to blow a gasket. The barman sidled up beside him and David looked at him expectantly.

"David, I know he's dating the sheriff, but he can't come in here and wreck up the joint. I won't press charges, but you need to get him to leave, and he's banned for a month." As he stated this last point he looked rather sheepish, but David knew he'd be firm on that ban even if Hook was normally one of his best customers.

He nodded to the barman and walked towards Hook just as he knocked back his glass of rum. He sat on a stool next to him and waited.

Killian huffed and looked at David from the corner of his eye. "I suppose you're here to drag me to the brig aren't you, mate?"

David dropped his head and gave a small smile, "not exactly, _mate_ , but you need to leave. You can't just tear up the bar and not expect to be kicked out. They're not pressing charges but that doesn't meanI'm not really angry with you right now. You do remember who your girlfriend is, don't you? What you do reflects on her."

Killian gave out a bark of laughter, "Aye well, not sure that's an issue anymore, but thanks for the reminder."

"Did something happen between you and Emma? Is that what this is? You know there are better ways to deal with an argument than to trash the local bar?" He was done with Hook moping, and while he was torn between his reaction as Emma's father and as Hook's friend (is that what they were), either way this was a really dumb reaction to a bump in the road.

"Honestly, don't want to talk about it Dave, this is between myself and Emma. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I have a couple of bottles back on my ship that are calling my name." He stood up next to Dave, picked his coat off the bar and brushed past David as he left. Dave sat and watched him walk out, shaking his head and mumbling "Stubborn Pirate" under his breath as he watched him walk away. Perhaps he should ask Mary-Margaret whether she knew what had happened; perhaps she had more luck with Emma.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

Emma walked in to Granny's to see Belle in one of the booths having a heated discussion with Alex over some book that sat between them. As the bell rung to announce her arrival, Alex glanced up and caught her eye, a slight smile on his lips as his eyes looked her up and down. The look on his face made her want to preen. She walked casually to the counter, a slight sway in her hips, as she pretended she hadn't noticed his approval, or the narrowed eyes Belle had shot her way at the silent exchange.

Granny strolled up to take her order, before nodding her head towards the table where Belle was determinedly keeping Alex's attention on her, jeez, she even had one of her hands over his (subtle much?).

"Been keeping him all to herself for the past half an hour, you'd think she'd forgotten all about that husband of hers." She arched an eyebrow at Emma, "not that I could blame her, not really a choice between them if you ask me. I'll get your order sorted now, want a coffee while you wait?"

Emma nodded an affirmative as she focussed on what was occurring across the diner. Someone should really step in before she embarrasses herself. She took the clunking of the coffee mug being placed in front of her as her queue to stroll over to the booth and rescue Alex **.**

She slipped in to the seat opposite them and gave Belle a bright smile.

"Hey Belle, I wasn't expecting to see you here, I would've thought you'd be home with your _husband_ by now." She made sure to emphasise the word husband while glancing at Alex.

"Emma, hi. Rumple was going over some paperwork tonight so I thought I'd sit in here and read, but Alex kindly came to join me, and it turns out he's read the same book! What brings you here? I would have thought you'd be with Killian?"

Alex sat silently watching the exchange, an amused look on his face.

Emma sighed and took a sip of her coffee, "actually, Killian and I had a fight. I don't think there is a me and Killian at the moment." She looked up at Alex under her lashes. "Tonight, I'm just here on my own picking up dinner before my night shift starts and I thought I could use a little bit of company while I wait." She shrugged and looked back at Belle whose brow had furrowed together at her statement.

"Well, your company is always welcome, my dear." Alex nodded and gave her a small smile that warmed Emma's insides nicely.

Belle watched the exchange between the two of them with narrowed eyes, then cleared her throat and turned towards Alex. "But Alex, we haven't finished talking about Animal Farm yet, I'm sure Emma isn't all that interested in joining our discussion, she's not big on reading like you and I." She gave a light laugh and touched her hand to his forearm to focus his attention back on her.

Alex glanced down at her arm and into Belle's eyes, before shifting his glance over towards Emma and raising an eyebrow to her, almost challenging her to see what her reaction to the other woman's attentions would be.

Emma bristled at Belle's statement and her show of possessiveness over Alex's attention. "Yeah, sorry Belle, I'm not much for reading, but I'm sure you've already bored Alex enough with all your talk of books. Why don't you run home to Gold, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to listen to you prattle on about your latest stories."

Alex started and glanced back at Belle, "Gold? You mean Rumplestiltskin? Your husband is Rumplestiltskin?" He moved his arm out of Belle's reach slightly and glanced at Emma. Emma noticed the slight look of concern in Alex's eyes as he looked at her for confirmation.

"Yeah, he adores her, super protective even when there are no intentions behind it." She smiled at him, giving a quick glance to Belle whose eyes had opened wide as she realised the reaction the identity of her husband had caused in Alex.

"He's not like that honestly! He's sweet and gentle, he wouldn't mind you spending time with me, and would it matter if he did?" she asked as she slid closer to him, her eyes taking on a predatory glint that Emma had never seen before.

Alex coughed slightly and stood up from the booth, glancing from Emma to Belle. "Belle, my dear, as much as I've enjoyed this chat, I would hate to misrepresent my intentions towards you, and I'd prefer not to cross your husband. Free agents are one thing" he glanced towards Emma and gave her a smirk," but married women are another matter entirely. I hope you enjoy the rest of your book and have a lovely evening."

He bowed and started to head towards the door, just as Granny shouted to Emma that her order was ready. Emma glanced up towards the counter and towards the retreating form of Alex.

"Alex wait two seconds, I'll head out with you." She strode over to the counter to nod at Granny and picked up her order before walking towards Alex who was by the door, studying her. She blushed slightly at the blatant appraisal and walked towards him with a slight sway in her hips, enjoying the predatory gleam in his eyes as he watched her move across the room. She didn't see Belle watching through narrowed eyes as they started to walk out the door, towards the street.

"So Emma, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" he looked down at her, his eyes boring in to hers and making her want to draw closer to him, feel the heat radiating off his body.

"I'm just being the friendly neighbourhood sheriff. I just want to make sure you get home ok. My shift is about to start so I'm just doing my civic duty. You should be thanking me really." She smirked at him and raised an eyebrow, waiting to see how he'd respond to her flirting. He'd shown interest in the past, and while she'd never felt bold enough before to make it clear how interested she was in him, something was telling her that she should start making it clear.

"What about this Killian that I saw you with and that you've had arguments with?" he was probing for information, she could tell. That was ok, Killian had been avoiding her, it was obvious he didn't want to talk about their argument, and she just had this vibe that the easiest thing was to walk away, Alex was far easier to work with, and he's hot. Who needed that mopey pirate who just kept making demands and throwing strops when Alex was here waiting for her?

She shrugged as she looked at him, "We had an argument, he got really grumpy, and honestly I don't understand what I saw in him. We met during a really stressful period of time, I guess it's like that movie says, relationships based on intense experiences never work."

Alex shifted his face, bringing it closer to hers so that their breaths intermingled. "I'm very pleased to hear that Emma." His eyes sparked and glowed gold as they stared at each other. Emma felt a warm surge go through her at his approval of her actions, a feeling she wanted more of. She started to sway towards him, seeking closeness, wanting to please him more if it meant she got more of that feeling, but he pulled back slightly so that he was out of her reach. His hand went to brush against her arm as he smiled at her.

"I will see you tomorrow then Emma, think of me." He smiled at her one last time before walking away from her. Emma sighed as she watched him go, feeling the loss of his company immediately and leaned against the wooden pillar at the arched entrance to the garden. She stared in the direction he'd walked long after he'd gone, before the cold of the night's air finally started to impede on her consciousness and she shivered. Realising she'd been standing there for a good 5 minutes, she shook her head and walked towards the sheriff's station wondering if David had already left or whether he'd hold on until she arrived for her shift.

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David huffed as he looked at the clock, Emma was late for her shift, she was never late for her shift, or if she was she always sent him a message to tell him that she was running late. The last couple of days had been harder work than normal, the level of domestic disputes seemed to be going up, he wasn't sure what was going on with that, but it did seem odd. He needed the break tonight, Mary Margaret had been off the last few days, but then again, with a baby waking them up multiple times in the night, so was he, there were strains on their marriage that had never existed before, but that was babies for you!

If he started packing up his stuff she'd probably arrive just as he was ready to go. As he picked up his bag to leave, Emma strode in through the doors carrying a bag from Granny's, cheeks rosy from the cold.

"David, I'm sorry, I went to Granny's to get some food and got caught up talking to Belle, I didn't mean to keep you waiting." She ran her fingers through her hair as she tried to pull her focus back on her job. Something told her not to mention Alex to him, he'd probably get all overprotective dad on her, that was the last thing she needed, she knew how bad he'd been with Killian.

"That's fine Emma, just wish you'd given me a heads up that you were running over, I'm meeting with Robin and Hook for a few drinks tonight on the Jolly Roger and I was on the verge of sending Robin a message saying I was running late before you came in." He watched the slight clench of her jaw when he mentioned Hook, so they still hadn't worked out whatever was going on between them, he'd have to see what Hook said when he saw him.

"Well, I'm here now, so you can go and enjoy your bromance with my ex", ouch, apparently he'd hit a nerve, his eyebrows raised as he looked at her in surprise.

"Your ex? Are we officially calling Hook your ex now? And what's with the attitude, you'd have been pleased that we were drinking together a week ago." He watched her reactions to try and figure out what was going on.

Emma sighed and scrubbed her face with her hands. "I'm sorry David, it's nothing, seriously, just go and enjoy a few drinks with the boys, everything else is for Killian and I to sort out. It shouldn't be getting in the way of you enjoying some company."

David kept watching her, trying to figure out what was off, but when she didn't say anything more he shook his head and shrugged slightly, if Emma didn't want to talk about it, there was nothing he could do to force it out of her.

"Ok then, if you need to talk Emma, you know me and your mother are here for you. You can open up to us. I'll see you tomorrow, call me if anything big comes up, I'll make sure I only have a couple."

"Seriously don't worry about it David, everything will be fine, I'm sure it'll be quiet and I'll end up just getting all this paperwork done and doing a quick patrol around." She gave him a small smile and he nodded and waved as he left the building, something still niggling about her behaviour, but it was probably his own tiredness making him see things where there was nothing. He shook his head again, pulled his collar up against the cold and walked in the direction of the docks. He definitely needed a beer or two tonight.

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As David walked up to the gangplank he could hear Robin and Hook talking quietly up on deck, the conversation stopping abruptly as the plank creaked under his weight.

"Dave?" He heard Hook's cautious voice call from deck.

"Hi yeah, sorry I'm late, Emma was a bit delayed showing up to the station and I wanted a quick catch up with her, haven't seen her around the loft much lately." He appeared on deck to see Robin and Hook leaning against the side, both holding beers with a crate nestled up against the side for easy access.

Hook's expression shifted into that of concern at the mention of Emma, "Is she alright? Nothing's happened to her?"

David held up his hands in a calming gesture, "she's fine Hook, calm down, she just seems a bit distracted that's all. She said she got caught up talking to Belle at Granny's while waiting for her order, that's all."

Robin huffed and David looked at him in confusion, "When I went past she was talking to that Alex guy out in front, it all seemed pretty intense." Robin felt Hook tense next to him and looked at him to see him giving his beer bottle a death glare. "Sorry mate, I didn't mean it like that, I just meant that they seemed to be deep in conversation, I'm sure it didn't mean anything."

David looked confused, "Why would she tell me she was talking to Belle if she wasn't?"

"Aye, that is the question isn't it Dave, why would she not tell you she was talking to Alex when obviously they're super chummy." Hook sounded bitter, there was obviously more to this than he knew.

"Killian, she loves you, I don't know what's going on at the moment between you two, but this is just a bump in the road, you'll work it out between you. Maybe you just need to sit down and work things through." Robin gave him a pat on the shoulder before leaning down to grab another beer.

Killian nodded and continued to stare down at his beer, brooding over the past week. Something was off, he'd seen her a couple of times at Granny's and had fought the temptation to go in and confront her over their argument, they'd both needed time to simmer down, it just seemed that Emma had needed far less time, and then hadn't bothered to come and talk to him. The fact she seemed to be hanging around with the guy that had started this whole mess didn't make him feel any better about the situation. Maybe Robin was right, he just needed to sit down with her and talk this through. He didn't know how long he'd been in his own head, but when he refocused he realised that Dave and Robin had carried on discussing things without him. Dave was talking about domestic disputes, he had an idea about what those were but some clarification would be needed for a clearer picture.

"Sorry Dave, what exactly is a domestic dispute in this world?" he caught Dave's look of surprise and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry Hook, I often forget you don't have any cursed memories. Domestic dispute is an argument between a couple or family," Killian started to say something but Dave cut him off, "more so than the argument between you and Emma, it's more usually violence, verbal abuse, that kind of thing. It's weird, it seems to have been more frequent over the past week or so, and it's the guys that have been calling it in, saying that the women have just been totally off the rails. It's not normal, but I'm not sure what to make of it, Emma hasn't said anything on her shift which is making me feel like I'm making more out of it than I need to."

Hook and Robin looked to be considering his words, Robins forehead creased as he processed everything.

"Sorry for bringing the delicate subject up but have you and Mary Margaret had any issues?" Robin asked carefully, looking a bit sheepishly at David.

David looked confused, "Well yeah, but we have a baby. Show me the couple with a new born that don't have some arguments when they're sleep deprived, stressed and overly emotional and I'll buy you a new crate of beer." Hook grunted a slight chuckle.

David looked at Robin, "What about you and Regina?"

Robin shook his head, "We've been fine, good honestly, and she gets on with Roland like a house on fire. Definitely no complaints about our relationship." When Killian and David look at him with slightly irritated glances, he had the grace to look slightly guilty as he took a sip of his beer, "Sorry…"

David huffed a laugh, "It's no problem Robin, one of us has got to have some stability in their relationship, reminds us of how good things can be once the dust settles." He held out his beer in a salute before taking a swig.

"Enough of all this depressing chat, gentlemen, I believe I promised I would show you how to play Liars dice tonight." Hook reached in to his coat for a bag of dice which made David chuckle, however domesticated he seemed to be these days, he was truly a pirate at heart. He heard Robin laugh beside him as he rolled a barrel over to where they stood for Hook to place the dice on.

Well if nothing else, this would help him take his mind off the happenings of Storybrooke, he'd keep an eye on things, but it was probably his baby-related tiredness, nothing else. If he could get Emma and Hook to sit and talk things through, he was sure everything would go back to normal.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

Killian woke up the next morning with a renewed sense of purpose. Robin and Dave had been right the night before, he needed to get Emma to sit down with him and talk this through. He wasn't one for letting what he wanted get away from him, he was taking the cowards way out and avoiding the confrontation. With that in mind he made sure to tidy himself up, having let his scruff turn into more of a beard than normal in the past couple of days, showered away the smell of stale alcohol and put on the tight black jeans he knew Emma always seemed to appreciate.

Looking at the time he realised he'd probably catch her grabbing lunch at Granny's in about an hour, so the best thing he could do was scout out the place and catch her when she arrived so they could have the full hour of her lunch break to talk, and they **WOULD** talk, he wasn't going to let her avoid this.

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Stepping in to Granny's, he grabbed their regular booth and looked around for the wolfgirl to take his order and noticed her up at the counter talking to – for fucks sake – Alex. He let out a sigh and shook his head; of course he would be in here around the time Emma was due to arrive for lunch. He tried to get her attention, but she was totally focused on talking to Alex, and by the tilt of her hips, and the look in her eyes, it wasn't the normal social chitchat going on. He noticed Whale sitting at the opposite end of the counter, brooding and glaring daggers at the pair of them. A slow burn started in the back of his head, trouble in paradise there too, he was pretty sure those two had been together, but apparently that pain in the ass was causing problems in their relationship too. None of this seemed right, what was the draw towards this guy? He looked over at Alex again and scoffed, he certainly wasn't anything special. Why did wolfgirl and Emma seem so interested in him?

While he sat there watching the proceedings, the bell above the door jingled and he glanced over to see Emma walking in. She stopped in the doorway and look towards Alex, and he watched her eyes narrowing, was that jealousy? What the hell was going on? He saw her start to storm towards the pair of them and decided to intercept.

"Swan!" he grabbed at her wrist to stop her and spin her around to face him. She looked surprised (and a little put out) as she took in who had interrupted. "Emma, we need to talk about this. I know I've been avoiding you, but you haven't bothered coming to see me either. Please, can we just talk?" He gave her arm a slight tug towards the booth, and with one last glance over her shoulder towards where Alex was still flirting with Ruby, she sighed and nodded, letting herself be led over to the booth.

She took a seat opposite him and silently stared at him, waiting for him to begin. Killian took in the look on her face and realised he needed to just lay his cards out on the table, however painful that might be, he was going to fight for this, she'd let him in and he was going to keep it that way. He took a breath and rubbed his face with his hands, sighing again before he started to talk.

"Emma, I'm sorry about what happened last time we were together, I was hurt and angry, but I overreacted when I threw you out of my cabin. I don't know what went on, or what's going on at the moment, but I thought we had something good going for us. I know I've always said we'd go at your pace, and I don't want you to feel like I'm pushing you into anything, but you have to know I thought we were exclusive, I certainly wasn't expecting you to be thinking of another man in bed. Please, just tell me what went wrong, I want us to work this out, I miss you, I miss us." He reached out to take her hand and Emma let him, but didn't turn her hand to grip his hand back, just left hers still on the table underneath his.

He looked at Emma, expecting to see her walls up, or some sort of reaction to what he'd just said, but his gut wrenched when he looked in to her eyes and saw nothing. That couldn't be right, she was always an open book to him, but her eyes were just blank, like she wasn't even processing what he was saying to her. His brow furrowed and his grip tightened on her hand.

"Swan, Emma, say something, anything. You can yell at me if you want, just tell me what you're thinking."

He watched her, and saw as the expression in her eyes changed, narrowing and hardening as she looked at him.

"I'm fine _Hook_ ," he recoiled at the emphasis on his moniker, "what did you expect? You were convenient when I needed some release, but now I have someone more worthy of my time." The look in her eyes was nothing short of cruel as she threw barbs at him. He'd never seen that look from her before, sure she could be angry, sarcastic, irritated, but she was never downright cruel. "How you ever thought you could compete with someone like _him_ is beyond me." A strange reverence entered her voice as she glanced towards Alex and his eyes narrowed. She was gazing at him like he was some present sent from the gods, he felt the jealousy burn in him. What the fuck was this, Hook was coming to the fore again, this man was taking what was his, and he didn't know how or why, but this wasn't Emma, this person in front of him wasn't the woman he loved.

"Dammit Swan, what the hell is going on." He tugged her hand and forced her to face him again. Her hard gaze looked through him and a sneer passed across her face before she tugged her hand out of his. She stood up and made to walk towards Alex but Killian stood up and grabbed her arm.

"NO." he practically roared, grabbing her chin to make her look at him. Everyone in Granny's had gone silent, watching the display in front of them. Alex had turned and was leaning against the counter watching them with a smirk on his lips, arms crossed as he waited to see how this would play out. Concern was written on Killian's face as he looked at her expression, searching her eyes for something, any sign of the woman he knew. "Emma love, what has he done to you?" He shifted his head to nod in Alex' direction.

Emma pulled her arm out of his grip and glared at him. "He hasn't done anything to me Hook, but you aren't what I need anymore, leave me alone."

As he stared at her he thought he saw a glimmer of something in her eyes, was that a flash of gold marring the beautiful green of her eyes, what the hell was that? He watched as she walked towards Alex, but took in the expression on wolfgirl's face, she seemed to be really pissed that Emma was trying to join them. He watched Emma say something to her, her face taking on that cruel expression he'd seen earlier, just as he saw wolfgirl's face contort in anger before she stalked away towards the back of the diner. Looking to Emma, he saw Alex behind her looking at him, a small smirk on his face as he raised an eyebrow in challenge at Killian.

Killian growled low in his chest, anger bubbling up, that guy was up to something, had done something to his Emma, and he was damn well going to figure out what. He grabbed his jacket and stalked out of the diner, he couldn't even go to the rabbit hole for a drink. He realised he needed to do the "hero" thing and talk to Dave. Something was wrong, and he needed a second opinion.

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Victor watched Hook storm out of the diner, an uneasy feeling after watching that display. He'd been coming in to flirt with Ruby for the past few days but it was like he didn't exist anymore. She spent all her time talking to that Alex dude, and by the looks of it, his wasn't the only girl who had had her head turned by this guy. The sheriff and Hook were the golden couple, sure they'd had their false starts, but now _…_ they'd been inseparable until this guy had shown up. His brow furrowed as he watched the interaction between the sheriff and this guy, he'd seen her spat with Ruby, which seemed weird, those two were good friends but they acted like bitches in heat fighting over the same guy. He needed to talk to Hook, something wasn't right, and maybe he knew of a solution, he seemed to always be in with the heroes.

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David walked towards the door of the loft when it started rattling on its hinges from the banging.

"Alright, alright, jeez, what is it?" he swung the door open to see a furious Hook on the other side, fist raised to hit the door again. "Hook, what's happened, you look like shit."

Hook stormed in to the loft and spun around, running his hands through his already messed up hair. "Something is up with that Alex guy. Don't ask me what, but I can feel it, he's done something to Emma, she's not herself." He took a shuddering breath out when he finished, like he'd been holding it the entire walk to the loft. When he looked up, David had to take a breath at the look in Hook's eyes. He looked broken, angry sure, but broken.

"Hook, what the hell happened?"

Hook sighed and shook his head, "I followed yours and Robin's advice Dave **.** I went to Granny's to have a talk with her finally, but she wasn't herself, she was," he stopped and drew his eyebrows together, looking at David, "she was cruel." He sounded appalled at even making that statement about Emma. David had to agree, that didn't sound like Emma at all, but then again, when put in a situation she didn't want to be in, she could lash out.

"Hook, I know you guys are fighting and you don't like the guy, but you can't immediately assume Alex has done something to Emma and that's why she acted up. You know she doesn't like to feel like she's cornered at the best of times, and when emotions are involved, I'm not surprised she was maybe a bit blunter than normal." He could understand that Hook was upset by the argument, he knew how long he'd been trying to gain Emma's attentions, but this was a bit much, even for Hook. He turned and walked towards the kitchen, grabbing a glass of water.

"Dave, you're not listening to me, this isn't me being jealous, there is something wrong. That wasn't Emma I talked to, I looked into her eyes, and they were blank, there wasn't a sign of Emma in there. Just before I left, they flashed gold, that's not right, he's enchanted her or something." He was frustrated that Dave wasn't listening to him. Of all the people to care for her wellbeing, he'd think Emma's father would.

"Hook," David took a breath, "Killian," that caught Hook's attention and he glanced up at David again. "I know things are rough, but sometimes arguments are just that, arguments. I think you're looking for bad guys where there are just actual emotional issues that you guys need to work through."

Just as Hook was about to respond, Mary-Margaret walked into the kitchen, looking between the two men in confusion.

"Charming? Hook? What's going on?"

David sighed and looked at Mary-Margaret. "Hook thinks that that guy Alex has done something to Emma."

Mary-Margaret looked at Hook and narrowed her eyes, "why would you think that? What happened?"

Hook sighed and reiterated what he'd just explained to David. Upon finishing, he looked at Mary-Margaret expectantly but she just looked confused. However, he did notice something else in her expression that he couldn't place.

Mary-Margaret looked at the both of them, "Well, that doesn't seem right."

"Thank you," Hook waved his hand in her direction, "Someone else can see something's wrong here."

"Yes, something is wrong, I don't know why Alex would want to talk to her, she's not his type at all." She shook her head in what looked like disgust at the concept.

Hook and David stopped and looked at her, you could hear a pin drop that followed her statement as both men took in what she'd just said.

"Snow, what do you mean 'she isn't his type'?" David was looking slightly concerned now.

"Oh well, it's obvious", she rolled her eyes at them. Both men raised their eyebrows waiting for her to continue. "Alex is gorgeous," Killian watched Dave's expression falter in confusion, "but Emma is so closed off; he needs someone who can care for him, make sure he's properly looked after. If anyone has done something, it's probably Emma, I don't see why he'd be interested in her otherwise." Killian suddenly placed the expression in her eyes, jealousy, Mary-Margaret was jealous of Emma. He glanced at Dave to see him stood there speechless, staring at his wife like she'd just grown a pair of horns.

"Ho…Hook, Can I talk to you a minute?" David tilted his head towards the stairs and Emma's room. Killian nodded and followed him up the stairs, glancing back at Mary-Margaret. David spun around to face him as they walked through the door to Emma's room, eyes full of fury.

"What the hell is going on?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

"What the hell is going on?"

Killian slumped back to sit on Emma's bed next to David, holding his head in his hands as he tried to process what was happening. It seemed it wasn't just Emma affected by this, to watch Mary Margaret talk about her own daughter like that, see David's confusion as he watched his wife compliment another man the way she did, he could see his own hurt and anger reflected on Dave's face as they sat in silence in Emma's room.

Killian watched as David stood up and started pacing the room, alternating between shaking his head and running his fingers through his hair while mumbling under his breath. Suddenly, he spun around to face Killian making him start. The determined look in David's eyes said everything; this was the ruler and hero standing in front of him now ready to fight.

"Right, we need to figure out what to do. We at least know the culprit; all of this seems to point towards that guy Alex who keeps going to Granny's. You said that Emma seemed distracted by him, and it looks like Snow seems just as fascinated. What exactly has Emma said to you?"

Killian cleared his throat, unsure of exactly how much he should tell Dave. "Well, just now she said that I couldn't compare to him and that I wasn't what she needed anymore," he clenched his jaw, the image of her face as she spoke to him making his heart hurt and a dead feeling settle in his chest. "The other day, when we first had an argument it was because," he paused and looked at David's expectant face, feeling the colour rise to his cheeks as he found the courage to admit to their private moments. "It was because she said his name when we were in my cabin together."

"Did she say his name accidentally during conversation, could it have been a Freudian slip?" David seemed confused as he tried to put Killian's statement into context.

Killian coughed and bowed his head, "don't make me say it Dave, please. It hurt my pride enough at the time; I don't want that sort of information getting out."

"Oh…OOOH, Jesus Hook, really, ok. I did not need to know that." David grimaced at Killian and shuddered slightly. There are some things a dad doesn't need not know about his daughter.

Killian shrugged, "sorry Dave, you did ask. Anyway, I think it's safe to say he doesn't need to be present to draw them in. The question is, why them?"

David was quiet for a moment while he thought, "It's not just Snow and Emma though, remember what I said last night, there have been loads of domestic disputes lately, couples arguing and it's always the woman instigating it. I think there's something bigger going on here. We need to find out what triggered this."

Killian snapped his finger, "the stripper, Alex was the stripper at the Rabbit hole, and Emma 'forgot' to come to the ship afterwards like we'd organised. She's been distracted since then."

"Of course, and for a male stripper, it would be mostly women who would attend to watch, it gives him a captive audience." David nodded to himself, then stopped, his eyes widening in shock, "I don't even know how many went to the bar that night, and we don't know how many women he's affected!"

"What we need to figure out is exactly what he's done to them. Could it be a curse?" Killian looked hopeful.

"No, no this couldn't be a curse, Snow and I are true love and I've kissed her multiple times since then and nothing has happened, so that can't be it." David sat back down and tapped his chin. "I think we need someone with more expertise in magic, perhaps Regina?"

"How do we know she wasn't affected by this? It seems to be most of the women in town from what you're saying, how do we know we can trust her?" Killian was getting a sinking feeling about the magical help they were going to have to get, he hoped to all the gods that he was wrong about Regina.

"No, remember Robin said that he and Regina were fine, better than fine at the moment. I don't think she went, she's unaffected. But we'll have to be careful, for all we know if she meets him, that could be enough to draw her in as well." Killian nodded at his words, relief filling him at the thought of not having to go to the crocodile for help with his love life.

"I'll just give them a call, I don't want to leave Snow here alone while she's like this, so perhaps we should get them to come over here." David started making his way towards the stairs when Victor Whale suddenly appeared at the top of them. David stopped short at the sight of him, unused to having him visit the loft. Killian sat up as he saw Victor stood at the top of the stairs looking sheepish.

"I'm sorry to disturb you both, Mary Margaret let me in. After watching Hook and Emma at Granny's I figured that he'd come here to talk to you. Something's wrong, not just with Emma, but with Ruby too. She won't even talk to me anymore, and I'm pretty sure I haven't done anything wrong this time."

David sighed, stepped back from the stairs and waved Victor into the room.

"We know, something is going on across town, it all seems to be focused on this guy."

"Alex, I know. That prick goes into Granny's more than I do, and he seems to have different women fawning over him every time." Victor's eyes narrowed as he spoke, putting his hands in his pockets and hunching in on himself.

Killian quirked an eyebrow, "Carrying on in broad daylight, he's certainly bold then, he apparently doesn't care if any of us notice what he's doing. Which begs the question, who is he really **?** Why doesn't he care if we notice?"

Victor and David looked at him with blank faces; neither of them could think of anything in particular that would cause this.

"I think I'll go call Robin and get him and Regina round, perhaps they'll think of something we can't." David moved across the room and Victor and Killian listened as he walked down the stairs towards the main living area.

Victor walked towards Killian, huffed and sat down on the bed next to him.

"Any idea what could do this, Hook? You've not come across anything in your travels?" Victor looked hopeful; Killian didn't have the heart to tell him that age didn't necessarily imply wisdom. He shrugged and looked at Victor.

"Honestly, if it was just one woman, I would say maybe an incubus, but affecting this many women at once, I don't know. He would have to be a really powerful being to possess this much influence."

The two men sat in silence until heavy footsteps raced up the stairs. They both glanced up to see a wild eyed David breathing heavily looking at them.

"She's gone, Snows gone. I can't find her anywhere downstairs, there's no note or anything."

Killian stood up and walked over to David, placing his hand on David's upper arm. "Dave mate, calm down, she can't have gone far. Is your boy still downstairs?"

David's shoulders slumped down, "Yeah, Neil is still downstairs sleeping. Why would she leave and not say anything, how could she just leave Neil down there and not tell me she was going out or anything."

"Well, if she's affected like the other women, I guess she'll be where all the others have been meeting him." Victor spoke up with a grimace.

Killian and David looked at each other.

"I'll call Robin and get him to meet us there. We can explain everything to him when we retrieve Snow and Emma, then we can go to Regina's and figure out what's going on. I'm not risking Regina getting caught up in this as well; God knows what she'd do." David turned and walked downstairs.

Killian turned to pick his coat up off Emma's bed and looked at Victor.

"Are you coming with us?"

"Of course, if you guys are getting your women, I want Ruby involved in the rescue mission too."

Killian nodded at Victor and the pair of them followed David's path downstairs and towards the front door. As they arrived downstairs David was just putting the phone down.

"Robin said he'd meet us outside, Regina is preparing things at her house ready to hold Snow and Emma there until we can snap them out of this. He's sending Little John to keep an eye on Neil, he'll bring him over to Regina's later on."

Killian nodded and the three men headed out towards Granny's.

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They arrived outside Granny's to see Robin standing outside with a bemused expression and raised voices coming from within. Robin looked relieved to see them.

"Thank God you guys are here, I was just about to call you and tell you to hurry up, something is going on in there but I figured it'd need all of us to sort it out."

David walked towards the door of the diner next to Robin, "What's going on?"

Robin shrugged, "I don't know, this racket was already going on when I arrived, I'm surprised you haven't had a call through to the sheriff's office."

"Emma is on duty tonight, which is not good if she's in there." Killian and David shared a look of concern before they walked through the door and into the chaos inside.

Mary Margaret and Emma were nose to nose yelling at each other, Ruby was leaning over the counter talking quietly to Alex with her hand on his shoulder while a couple of other women from town, that Killian couldn't identify, were making hesitant steps towards him. However, every time they got near, Emma or Mary Margaret would turn their fury on the other women, making them back off into their respective booths where they watched him from a distance.

Killian could identify the look in their gaze, having been on the receiving end multiple times, it was pure lust. There was only one thing these women wanted to do, and it had nothing to do with marriage and white picket fences. Alex had an amused expression on his face as he surveyed his domain, but glanced up at the entry of the four men and frowned.

Everything went silent as all the women turned to look at the new arrivals; a strange feeling of malice entered the room, making the men take a step back as they looked around.

David braced himself and stepped towards Mary Margaret, "Snow, what are you doing here? Why did you just leave, you left Neil downstairs, you didn't even say anything to me." He reached out to take her hand but Mary Margaret jerked back out of his reach.

"You don't own me, _Charming_ ," David winced at the sarcastic emphasis on his name, "after you told me about Emma I figured she'd probably be throwing herself at poor Alex so I came down to rescue him."

Emma gasped and spun back to glare at Mary Margaret, "Rescue him? Why the hell would he need rescuing from me? He's far more interested in spending time with me than he is with you. Why would he want to spend time with someone like you **?** You're how much older than him, you've got a baby in tow, and you're married. That's a tick in every box for undesirable."

Mary Margaret narrowed her eyes at Emma, "Excuse me, many men prefer an older woman, we know what we want, we're confident, and we know how to look after them."

Emma opened her mouth to argue but Killian stepped between them and interrupted.

"Ladies, please stop this. I don't know why you're arguing with each other, you're mother and daughter, this isn't right. Please Emma, stop this now before you say something you regret." He pleaded with Emma, stepping towards her to try and calm her down. Emma moved away from him and tried to step around to get back to Mary Margaret. David had walked up and was trying to convince Mary Margaret to go outside with him but she was resisting. All the while Alex was stood by the counter watching the show. Victor had stepped up to the counter and was trying to draw Ruby's attention away from Alex and towards him so that he could coax her outside too.

"Get away from me, Hook," Emma snarled, "I've already told you I'm not interested, so just crawl back to your ship now before I make you."

Killian's eyes widened at her threat and he took a step back. Beside him, Mary Margaret had shaken herself loose from David's grasp and the pair of them were backing up towards Alex, who had stood up and moved forward to stand behind them, a satisfied smile on his face.

"You heard the ladies, gentlemen. I suggest you take dear Emma's advice and run along, this does not concern you." Alex's voice was low and threatening, but the smile on his face said he was enjoying every minute of this.

David and Killian took a step forward at the same time, trying to make a grab for their respective partners in a last futile attempt to get them away from him.

"I SAID BACK OFF!" Emma roared, and brought her hands up; eyes glowing gold as she shot a blast of white magic that threw David, Killian and Robin up against the wall of the diner.

Killian gasped in pain as his head connected with the wall and the world tilted on its axis, but felt hands catch him under his arms and lift him away and out the door of Granny's.

"Killian, are you alright?" He looked to his left to see Robin holding one of his arms, realising that David was holding the other as they hastily retreated back on to the street.

"Aye, I'm ok, just hit my head. I'll be fine, just give me a minute." He took the weight completely on his own legs and shook off Robin and David before rubbing the back of his head and wincing as he touched the growing bump.

Robin glanced back towards the diner where Victor was quickly moving back down towards them. "I see what you mean now, something is definitely wrong in there, and I think we know who's to blame. I think a tactical retreat is our best option right now. Let's get back to Regina's and talk this through. Killian, you probably need some ice for that bump."

The men all turned and walked away in the direction of Regina's, not noticing the shadow of the man in the alleyway. Once they walked past, the shadow moved back towards the other side of the road, the distinctive click of his cane on the pavement the only sound he made.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

As they walked up the steps to the mayor's house the door swung open and Regina met them on the doorstep, arms crossed and eyebrow raised.

"Do you mind telling me what exactly is going on and why I seem to be under house arrest?"

Robin winced at her tone, and David put his hands up to placate her.

"Regina, I get that you want to know what's going on, but can we talk about this inside, we're all a bit shaken up, and Killian has hit his head and needs some ice." David caught Killian by the arm and led him forward towards the door and past Regina.

"Don't think it'll make much difference to him" came a mumble from Regina following David and Killian into the house.

"Regina!" Robin half-heartedly berated Victor following in after them.

They moved in to her kitchen, Killian taking a stool at the counter while Regina retrieved an ice pack from the freezer and handing it to him wrapped in a tea towel.

"Little John is upstairs with Roland and Neil if you want to go up and check on him." Regina glanced at David and tilted her head towards the stairs. David nodded and walked off to check on his son while Regina boiled the kettle and Robin took up station on the stool next to Killian with a sigh while Victor leant against the counter.

5 minutes later, David and Little John came back down with a baby monitor, Regina handed him a coffee and placed a tea in front of Robin on the counter.

"Ok, so are you going to fill me in now? Who exactly decided to beat our dear Captain upside the head, I need to send them a fruit basket." Regina leant back against the counter and glared at David.

Killian huffed and placed the ice pack on the counter, rubbing the sore spot and wincing again.

"Emma did this to me, but she wasn't in her right mind."

Regina just raised an eyebrow at Killian and suppressed a smirk.

"If she did that to you, I'd say she was possibly finally in her right mind, what did you do?"

Killian clenched his jaw and balled his hand in to a fist, banging it against the counter.

"I didn't do anything, that's the point. Something is going on with her." His eyebrows drew together as he gave her a hard stare.

"Not just Emma, it's happened to Snow, too." David piped up from the corner of the room, making Regina glance in his direction in curiosity.

"Ruby, too." Victor added.

Regina furrowed her brow in thought. "What exactly do you mean something is going on with them? What are they doing differently?"

"It started with Emma, and we thought it was just her and Hook having a falling out, but there's something more to it. Snow is acting strangely too, she was really disparaging of Emma, said she had to go rescue a guy from Emma. They all seem to have this draw towards this guy, Alex, who is spending a lot of time at Granny's. When we went there just now, Snow and Emma were actually arguing over who deserved him more, and the place was full of women who all seemed drawn to him as well." David glanced around the room to see if anyone wanted to add to his explanation.

"Emma's eyes glowed gold tonight too, right before she blasted me into a wall." Killian commented.

"Glowed gold, what do you mean?"

"I mean, they flashed deep gold tonight. I thought I'd seen gold in them the other night when we were arguing but I wrote it off as my imagination, but tonight they were definitely gold before she used her magic." He looked at the other men for confirmation.

Robin nodded, "he's right, I saw it. I didn't know whether it was a new thing with Emma's magic, but it definitely happened."

Regina looked confused, "I can't think of anything that would cause that off hand, but I can do some research in my books and see if there's some sort of hypnosis that could cause that."

"Oh I wouldn't worry dearie _,_ your books won't help you with this." Gold strolled intothe kitchen with a click of his cane and looked around with a bored expression at the occupants.

"Do you actually just let yourself into people's houses now?" Regina looked affronted and the men stood up ready to fight whatever Gold planned to do.

"Calm down, I'm not here to argue. I'm here because I think we all have a shared enemy, and a problem shared is a problem halved, is it not?" He gave Killian a predatory smile before looking at the rest of the room expectantly.

Regina looked like she had a bad taste in her mouth, and David stepped forward towards Gold.

"Alright Gold, what do you know?"

"Very little more than you I'm afraid, however, it seems that whatever has affected your lovely ladies has also affected Belle, and nobody messes with the people I love and lives." His eyes turned hard, a sneer crossing his features.

Killian raised a finger, "actually, I'd like to argue that point…."

"Hook this is not the time!" David snarled at him.

Looking decidedly chastened, Killian picked up the ice pack, placing it back on the bump with a huff.

"As much as I am loathed to help the pirate with his love life," he glanced at Killian in disgust, "the information he's provided us with on Emma's actions is actually helpful and can point us in the direction of the help we need."

Regina raised her eyebrows and looked at Gold expectantly.

"And who exactly does this information point us to?"

Gold smiled widely at Regina, like she'd just made a joke. "Why, my dear, the fairies of course."

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

The diner was silent as the men made their exit, Emma and Mary Margaret watching them leave with blank expressions.

"Well done Emma, I'm very pleased with you." A warm voice came up behind her, sending licks of warmth through her body.

Emma felt Mary Margaret tensing beside her, and glanced over to see her eyes narrow. Alex noted her reaction and smiled at her.

"I'm pleased with you too, Mary Margaret, the pair of you have been so helpful in defending me and have proved your worth. I think we've had enough excitement for tonight. However, Mary Margaret, if you could go up and prepare my room for me I would be most appreciative."

Mary Margaret nodded stiffly, and with a glance at Emma, walked towards the back stairs of Granny's **.**

"Now Emma," his hand came up to caress her shoulder, his thumb sliding against her cheek. Emma shivered at the feel, this was everything her mind was saying she wanted right now, and God it felt right.

"I think you and I should sit and have a talk, don't you?" his eyes glowed gold, and Emma was drawn to them, nodding absently as she followed him to an empty booth and sat down next to him.

"You showed a great amount of power today, I was very proud of you. You have all the makings of a great leader. You are also very beautiful; your hair reminds me of the bright sunshine of summer, or corn just before the harvest. I can't imagine anyone I would want by my side more in the days to come."

Emma looked up at him curiously. "What do you think is going to happen?"

"Well the men obviously think they know what's best for you, they're taking away your choice. You do choose me, don't you?" He looked down at her intensely, and Emma felt like his eyes were boring in to her very soul.

"Yes, Alex, I will always choose you." She gazed up at him.

"Excellent Emma, that's exactly what I want to hear." His hand stroked her hair absently, as his eyes glowed, a small smile to himself on his lips. Everything was going exactly as he'd planned.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

The men walked up the stairs to the convent with Regina's protests still ringing in their ears. No matter how much they tried to explain how Alex could potentially enthral her as well if she left her house she insisted that she was too strong to fall for his crap. The guys were less convinced and once the boys were used as leverage (she couldn't possibly leave Roland and Neil on their own with Little John could she?) she conceded defeat and waved them on their way.

As they reached the top of the stairs, Killian knocked hard on the door and heard the click of a cane as Gold walked up to stand next to him. The door creaked open to reveal Blue staring up at Killian with surprise before her expression fell into that of distaste at the site of Gold.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" she asked suspiciously, still holding the door partially shut.

"Blue, we need your help." David said as he stepped forward to grab her attention.

Blue's eyes widened in surprise, "Your highness, how can I help?"

"Blue, something has happened to Snow and Emma, they've been enthralled in some way. They're fighting against us at the side of some man that has appeared in town called Alex."

Blue internally winced at the sight of the desperation oozing off the men. She knew this was coming but she'd hoped to avoid this discussion.

Gold stepped forward, "It's not just our dear saviour and her mother, Belle seems to have been equally affected."

"And Ruby" Whale spoke up from behind.

Gold sighed at the interruption, "yes and the wolf, along with many other women in town. I suspect you know what is going on, but I'd rather you provide the information than it come from me **;** you may know things that I am unaware of."

Blue looked to the ground and sighed.

"Please, if you know anything that can help us, we would be in your debt."

Blue looked up to the sad eyes of the pirate as he stood in front of her pleading, she'd grown to respect him _;_ he'd proved that he could change and make himself a better man all for the love of the saviour and second chances were always worth giving to a man such as him.

She nodded and opened the door wide, gesturing for them to follow her.

David led the way with Killian and Robin just behind him. Gold followed along warily glancing around while a sheepish Whale brought up the rear, suddenly wishing he'd let the other more experienced adventurers complete this task.

Blue let them into her office and sat down at her desk, David, Gold and Killian taking the chairs in front of her.

Blue's eyebrows furrowed as she sorted her thoughts and decided where she needed to begin, she looked up at the expectant eyes of David and Killian and the slightly bored expression of Gold and decided it would be better to find out what they knew before she gave them any further information.

"So what exactly has happened? Or rather, what have you seen?" She looked especially at Killian, knowing that the saviour would typically be deeply involved with this.

Killian grimaced and looked at her. "Emma and some of the women went to the Rabbit Hole to watch a male stripper almost 2 weeks ago now, since then they've been distracted, I'd almost say obsessed with the man that performed for them, someone called Alex. Emma has been slowly pulling away from me, telling me to leave her alone, and finally using her magic on me to remove me from her presence. When she used her magic her eyes flashed gold, I've never seen that happen before." He looked at her hoping she could provide clarification.

Blue could feel the dread start to sit heavy in her gut but tried to keep her face impassive as she continued to look at Killian.

David decided to step in and continue the tale. "At first we thought that perhaps there was just a problem with their relationship, but Snow started to get distracted and actively started to put down Emma's interest in Alex, saying he'd prefer her. She left Neil alone in our house to go to him!"

"Belle has also become obsessed with being in his presence, I've had to lock her in our house to prevent her from leaving." The men all turned to look at Gold with raised eyebrows.

"I assure you she wants for nothing, this was just a precaution." He waved away their expressions and turned back to look at Blue.

"I take it Ruby and Regina are also affected?" Blue asked, glancing up at Robin and Whale.

Whale nodded, but Robin shook his head. "No, Regina thankfully did not join the women on their trip to watch this man and remains unaffected, however we have advised her to stay in her home until we have solved the issue."

Blue nodded at Robin, "that would be a wise precaution, yes."

"So are you going to tell us what the blazes is going on with them?" Killian asked, the irritation at her continued coolness starting to show.

Blue shook her head and looked up at Gold in expectation, she knew what was coming.

"He's a fairy, isn't he?" Gold sneered at her.

Blue looked at them all with sad eyes, "I'm afraid so, yes."

David looked confused, "but fairies are good, aren't they? I don't understand."

"Female fairies are good, yes **.** Male fairies can be good, but they have a slightly different set of rules and morals"

"That's putting it lightly." Gold responded sarcastically.

"What do you mean? What do you know, Crocodile?" Killian glared at Gold.

"I mean that fairies aren't necessarily always conceived through consent, and that's not generally considered an issue amongst the Fae." He turned back to look at Blue in disgust.

"That's unfair and inaccurate," Blue looked affronted. She looked at the other men. "Female fairies are all that is good, for the most part, and male fairies are certainly not on par with the dark one here, but they do tend to take a different method to finding their mates. You have to understand that male fairies are very alluring to the opposite gender, and for the most part they use this to their advantage. Most male fairies tend to find us female fairies rather tedious, and often look for mates amongst the human population. It also helps to keep our bloodlines strong. Sadly, they also tend to look for the more magical human women to ensure strength." She looked at Killian with sad eyes.

"Are you saying that this Alex has chosen Emma as his mate?" David asked **,** while Killian still sat silently staring at Blue.

"Yes, I'm afraid, with her power she would be very tempting to a male fairy as an excellent mate." She had the grace to look apologetic as she said this.

"Why haven't you come to us to warn us", Killian's voice shook with anger as he looked at Blue, it was taking everything he had for him not to reach across the table and grab her, force her to tell him everything.

"It's not my place, I'm sorry, but it isn't the place of the women of the Fae to interfere with the men's choosing of their mates, we cannot interfere, and it would be inappropriate for us to, considering that is how many of us were born. Since you've asked, I can provide you with information, but it isn't our place to warn you and it would be frowned upon for us to interfere." She looked sad as she said this, but her words only made Killian angrier.

"Inappropriate?! You are telling us that your men rape human women to conceive more fairies, take them away from their loved ones against their will and you won't do anything to prevent this?!"His arms were shaking with anger. David placed a placating hand on his shoulder but Killian shrugged it off, standing and leaning forward over the desk towards Blue.

"You WILL tell us what we need to do to stop this man, or you are as guilty as him for what is occurring."

Blue looked up at the Pirate and could see the man that many had feared, she couldn't blame him though, watching his true love being drawn away from him must be torture for his soul. She knew if she didn't help he would revert to the darkness, and nothing would be able to save him this time. She sighed, shook her head and looked back up at him, she was going against her own kind, but she couldn't stand back and watch Alex destroy multiple lives, whatever the consequence to her reputation amongst her own kind was.

"I will tell you what I can, I cannot actively help you, but I can guide you to what you need to do."

That seemed to placate Killian a little and with David's hand on his back encouraging him to sit back down he nodded and returned to his seat.

"Alex isn't just a normal male fairy, he is one of the royal line, so he was looking for a particularly powerful woman, probably why he pinpointed Emma. They attract multiple women in a population to distract the human men from realising which woman they are actually targeting, and to provide protection should the men try to fight back. The gold eyes represent his hold on them, the more the gold takes over, the more they have given themselves to him. When he has them totally in his thrall and there is nothing more of her old self in there, it'll be visible in her eyes." Killian's heart hurt to hear this, to think of Emma's beautiful green eyes being forever gone, for her to lose herself to that man **,** was all something he couldn't accept, wouldn't accept.

"So what do we do to stop him?" he asked, looking at Blue in expectation.

"You fight." She replied simply. "You fight him, not just with your strength, although I know your sword arm is one of the best in the land. You fight with your love, your soul. You have to reach Emma, she's still in there but the thrall has quashed her to the deepest part of herself. You must call to her love for you, however buried deep it is, until her eyes turn completely there is hope to bring her back. Alex will expect his other women to fight for him, to defend his chosen mate, and when that fails he will challenge you himself, but use the time before his challenge to try and reach her. You will know what to do when the time comes Killian, so you mustn't hesitate when you realise." She looked at him earnestly, and he could see the wisdom in her words. He nodded and looked at his hand resting on his knee.

"You must all be quick though, there is little time left, and when the time has come, he will try and take her away. He has the ability to create a portal to take him back to our realm, and he will not hesitate to take her with him. You must stop him before that happens because once she has passed through that portal, all is lost." The urgency in her voice was not lost on any of them.

"You must put your squabbles aside and all work together on this, disunity will not help in the battle to come." She glanced between Gold and Killian to emphasise her point. Gold had the grace to look sheepish at her statement, Killian continued to look down, but inclined his head slightly in acknowledgement.

"There is nothing more I can say to advise you, you must continue this alone I am afraid." She stood up and walked towards the door, indicating that their discussion was over.

The men walked towards the door, quietly thanking her and headed towards the exit, all thinking through the guidance Blue had given.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

The group stared at each other across the table after David finished telling Regina what the Blue fairy had told them. Killian had long since given up any semblance of paying attention and held his head in his hands processing what he'd been told. They'd finally started to get some sort of relationship developing between them, and now Emma was slipping out of his reach yet again, and not of her own choice! He slammed his fist down on the table in frustration making everyone else sat at the table jump and stare at him. He looked up and around at the faces in front of him.

"This **can't** happen, there must be something we can do to stop him from generating that portal."

He looked at Regina hopefully. She frowned and then furrowed her brow.

"We can't stop him from generating a portal, but we may be able to detect _when_ he generates it and where so that we can intervene." She glanced at Gold for confirmation; he looked at her thoughtfully for a moment and then nodded.

"Yes, I can see that working. It's not the most complicated of spells and I trust you have all the ingredients you would need to complete it your majesty." She nodded, "excellent, then if you'll excuse me I wish to check on Belle, I will leave you to complete the necessary tasks. Please inform me when you have located the portal." With that, he stood, gave a general acknowledging nod around the table and left the house.

"Why do we insist on involving the Crocodile in these tasks? He's hardly a great help." Killian grimaced at David and Robin.

"Hook, he did tell us who to talk to for advice so we can't be too annoyed with him." David responded with a sigh.

"Still, it's always helpful to have an extra, and more experienced, pair of hands when completing a spell like this." Regina added before standing up and heading towards the sitting room. "Now, unless you are willing to give me a hand with producing this spell I suggest you all get some rest and ensure you're suitably armed, something tells me this showdown will happen sooner rather than later. Alex knows we're on to him, and I imagine he'll want to get Emma away from you all as soon as possible."

"I'll stay to keep you company and help where I can, and we'll call you all as soon as we're prepared." Robin stood from the table, looking at David.

David and Killian stood, nodding at Robin and Regina and heading towards the door.

"We'll be waiting for your call. Please have haste, we don't know when this scum is going to finish his plan." Killian pleaded with Regina before they left. He could have sworn Regina's eyes softened towards him for a moment but the look was gone as soon as it appeared. She inclined her head towards him in a gesture of sympathy and David led the way out the door.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

Alex paced at the back of Granny's Diner, things weren't going at the speed he had hoped. The saviour was the perfect choice, her magic was powerful, and her beauty only sweetened the package, he would be the envy of his realm when he returned with her by his side. What she had seen in that Pirate scum he couldn't understand, but that was fine, he had her to himself now.

The only problem was that no matter how much influence he pushed on her, he couldn't seem to quite take full possession of her; something was still stopping him from completing the connection. Time was running out, if Rumplestiltskin knew what he was about to do then he was still at risk of having his plans stopped, especially after his mistake with his woman.

He needed to move forward. It wouldn't take much more for the connection to be completed and perhaps it was the restriction of this world without magic that was causing the issue. She was enough under his thrall that she'd follow him willingly through the portal, and perhaps once they were through she'd be more amenable to finishing what they'd started, away from the influence of all these silly mortals.

He smiled to himself at the thought of having all that beauty at his fingertips, oh how he'd play once he had her to himself. She'd be his prized possession, just imagining what he'd do to her made him hard, and he glanced towards the booth where she waited for him quietly. He was so close, he couldn't have those men messing up his plans now.

He'd waited long enough, he'd generate the portal with the rising of the sun, his magic would be at its most powerful at dawn and once they arrive at his fairy realm there would be nothing anyone could do to stop him.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

Killian was pacing the loft when David's phone rang, they shared a look as David answered. Killian felt the problem with these communication devices was that he could only ever hear one side of the conversation. He listened to David 'hmmm' and 'yes' and watched him nod as he listened to whatever Robin was telling him. Then he glanced up at Killian and pulled the phone away from his ear.

"Robin says he's been reading up while Regina worked on the spell. They think that he'll generate the portal at Dawn, it's a powerful time for light magic, and regardless of his intent, fairies magic is most generally light magic."

Killian snarled and grabbed the phone off David.

"That's all very well mate, but that's two hours away and we still don't know **where** this portal is going to appear!" He watched David sigh and rub his face with his hands and heard Robin sigh through the phone.

"Killian, I know you're worried and frustrated but we're working as hard as we can over here, and at least we know when we have to be prepared for now, we just need to be prepared to charge to wherever we need to be when the time comes." He heard muffled talking in the background and then shuffling down the phone before Regina's voice came over the line.

"Hook, you need to calm down, from what the Blue Fairy said, you need to fight for Emma when the time comes, and if your emotions are all over the place you won't be able to do what needs to be done at the time. I don't think we'll be able to pin down where the portal is going to be generated until he starts the spell itself. I've cut down the potential places in town where I think this would be possible, so I think we can safely wait in a centralised location and head wherever we need to when my spell picks up the source. I can do this spell in David's truck no problem, and we head out when it triggers. Now here's what I need you to do…."


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

_She didn't understand what was going on, why did she have this pull to him? Part of her was saying no no no, when he talked to her, planted his ideas into her head, but another part of her was pulled towards him like a moth to a flame. It felt like she was split in two, this part of her that was genuinely her sitting at the back of her mind and this other part she didn't understand that seemed to control her actions. She was trapped in this cage kicking and screaming at herself to resist._

_When she fought against Killian, pushed him across the room, saw the hurt and fear in his eyes, her heart broke. She was sobbing, screaming for him to help her, but she didn't even know what he could do to help. She was stuck, this slime ball was stroking her arm, cuddling up to her, she knew he wanted more, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Dear God she prayed they helped her soon._

"Emma, my dear, how would you like to come away with me?"

_Oh god, he was back, what did he want now? Unbidden, a feeling of warmth spread through her, she struggled against the unwanted sensations he created but that part that responded without her permission was already fighting to the surface._

"Where would we go?"

_She could see him, those eyes glowing gold at her, she could feel the pull towards them. No, she had to stop, this was wrong, it was Killian she loved, God, where was Killian? Why did she feel like she was drowning, slowly slipping deeper in to herself ?_

"Away, away from here, where it can just be you and I together, would you like that?"

_NO, NO! God please stop this. She forced her will forward as far as it would go, managed to shake her head and pull away slightly. She felt his hand cup her cheek and make her face him, look deep in to his eyes, felt the pull again and her control start to recede._

"Emma, look at me. Why do you still hesitate? You know I only want you. We can finally be together, you have to trust me though, follow my instructions. Can you do that?"

_His eyes glowed with a new intensity and she felt the tug, harder than before, the walls of her cage getting stronger, she hurled herself at them, trying to pull back control._

"Yes Alex, I trust you. We can be together, I want you."

_Emma felt dread pool in the pit of her stomach, oh God._

" _Killian," she whispered, "please hurry."_

As Alex watched his prize nod her agreement, he ignored the watering in her eyes as the last of her will started to fade.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

Killian, David, Whale and Robin and Regina stood next to David's truck.

"10 minutes before dawn, when is this bloody spell going to start working!"

Killian paced back and forth, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.

"Patience pirate, it's almost time. The spell is working, but nothing is going to trigger until he starts doing something himself." Regina rolled her eyes at him. "By then it could be too bloody late!" he spun around to glare at her, David placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him. Killian shrugged it forward and walked forward until he was right in front of Regina.

"If I lose her because you've messed this up, your majesty, forget the crocodile, I'm turning all my anger on you." He spat the words in to her face. Robin grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back.

"Killian, enough, this doesn't help anyone, we need to be united against this guy. Regina is trying to help, but there's only so much she can do."

Killian stepped back at his tug and took a deep breath, exhaling loudly before turning away and pacing again.

Regina went back to mumbling something while David stared on intently.

Suddenly there was a bright flash and a steady glow of light appeared in front of Regina. She looked around at the men proudly while Killian and David stared at the glowing ball in hope.

"Is this it? Has it started?" Killian looked between the light and Regina, hope and fear in his eyes.

"Yes, he's started the spell, now all I need to do is set it free and we can track it to his location. I figured out all the logical locations where he would open a portal and they're all within running distance of this location. Are we ready?" she stared directly at Killian.

He lowered his hand to the hilt of his sword, tightening his grip around it. He nodded.

"Let it fly your Majesty."

Regina flicked her wrist and the ball of light set off towards their left, into the woods and as one, they set off at a run after it, praying that they wouldn't be too late.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

_He was leading her somewhere; they were in the woods outside of town now. She'd lost all control after that last connection between them, she was terrified, a prisoner in her own body._

_She followed along behind him, her legs moving willingly. She'd seen Mary-Margaret, Ruby, a load of other women from town too. Why were they all following them? He'd said they were going away together, were they all going?_

_They came to a clearing in the woods, she could see the well in front of them, of course, everything always came down to this well. Her next job as sheriff was going to be to destroy that thing, it always seemed to cause trouble._

_Alex stopped and turned to her, hands on each of her arms._

" _Wait here for me my love, it's almost time." He glanced up at the sky. "Just be patient and all will be as it should."_

_She watched him move towards the well, and start to chant something, pulling a wand out of thin air. Suddenly the air by the well started to swell, just as the sun started to rise and she realised what he was going to do._

_He was opening a portal…._

_If he succeeded and they went through she'd never see Killian again, never see anyone again. She had to stop this._

_She charged at the bars of her prison, trying to get back control, managed to make herself step back slightly, joy surged through her. She could still fight this; she just needed to time this right._

_If she could wait until he was totally distracted, try and move so as not to alert her "guards" as she assumed the other women were perhaps she could assert enough control to escape and get help._

_Just as she was preparing to take stock of everyone's position a glowing ball of light charged in to the clearing, and then the most glorious sound she'd ever heard followed after._

"SWAN!"


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own Once Upon a Time or the characters therein. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

Killian chased the light, everyone running along after him to keep up.

He dodged left and right through the trees in the woods, wondering where the hell the light was leading them until he saw the clearing up ahead. The wishing well, of course, why no one had had the bright idea to knock it down yet he had no idea, but it always seemed to be at the centre of any magical trouble. As he got closer to the clearing he could see Alex using his magic to open the portal, and Emma stood a little away watching, the women from town were dotted around the clearing, still as statues, guards he realised. He couldn't let him take her.

"No, no, no…..SWAN!" the end of his words came out as a roar as he charged towards the clearing.

He saw a slight shift of movement from Emma, like she was trying to turn to him and it gave him hope that she was still in there somewhere.

Alex stilled and turned towards him, his face a picture of surprise and irritation.

"Pirate…" he sighed, "I was making this easy on you, I could have removed you from the equation completely, but I had been generous and given you your life. Now you've made things difficult, we're going to have to do this the hard way." He shook his head and made a gesture with his hands.

The other women in the clearing started towards him just as the rest of his group came through the tree line.

"Dave, you need to distract the women, I'll get Emma." he glanced back at David and Robin, while backing away from the approaching crowd of women. He noticed Alex had turned his back and continued with his spell and the portal was starting to form. He needed to hurry.

David nodded at him and he, Robin and Whale stepped forward to intercept the women while Killian tried to dodge through the crowd to reach Emma.

Hands grabbed at him but he pushed through, watching a slight wobble in Emma's stance as he got near, like some sort of internal battle was being waged. Alex was totally focused on his task, giving Killian a chance to get up next to Emma and grab her shoulder.

He shifted to face her and looked in to her eyes, the pigment was almost totally gold now, but he could see a faint ring of green still holding on.

"Emma, please, please, I know you're still in there love, please, you need to fight this, fight him!" He could hear his own voice breaking with the desperation to try and get through to whatever little part of her was left. His hands were on her shoulders, his face so close their noses were almost touching, and he felt the tear travel down his cheek.

He cupped her cheek, his fingers shaking slightly, "Please Emma, I love you, come back to me, you're stronger than this."

He thought he saw her mouth quiver, just the slightest of movements, and a single blink of her eyes, before a voice spoke up, far too close for comfort.

"It won't work you know, she's mine now." He turned to see Alex had walked up to them again while he was distracted, the portal fully formed behind him. A menacing grin on his face, and Killian felt dread build deep in his chest.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

_Emma struggled against her cage, watching events unfold in front of her but with no power to stop them. When Killian appeared in front of her she screamed for him, trying to gain back control of her body and rattling the bars of her cage. She bit back a sob when she saw his tears._

_However, when he told her he loved her, something warmed inside her, a visible white glow came from her body and the bars of her cage rattled on their own, seeming to become less solid. She tried to force her way through again and managed to push a hand through beyond the cage but it still held her back from forcing her way out totally. Hope started to build, his words were making a difference, but it wasn't enough. She needed to do something more. She pushed forward again, thought about her love for Killian, prayed it was enough. She watched the bars flicker again, her arm got through but nothing more. Watching the scene in front of her, she watched Alex walk up behind Killian, and realised Killian hadn't noticed._

_Alex's words both caressed and burnt as the two sides of her fought against each other, coldness crept back in when Killian pulled his hand from her cheek and swivelled round to face Alex, surprise etching his features that someone had managed to creep up on him._

_His hand went to his sword and she felt dread as she watched a malicious smile move across Alex's features._

_HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS_

"You may think she's yours, but I will always fight for what I want." Killian reached down for his sword, Alex may be fae but he was from the same world as he was, and if he were any sort of gentleman (which Killian doubted), he'd be willing to fight for Emma.

The smile on Alex's face was disconcerting but he waved his hand and a sword appeared; an acknowledgement of the fight to come. Killian moved to place himself in front of Emma, guarding her from Alex. A quick glance around showed the other men were busy distracting the women, Dave was doing everything he could not to man handle his wife, but it was a close call.

Killian focused on Alex just in time to see a sword heading towards his shoulder in a wide swing, he blocked just in time, shifting to a better stance while ensuring Alex had no access to Emma. The thrust and parry was fast and Alex was obviously a proficient swordsman. An elbow knocked him off balance, he glanced to his left to see whale wrestling with two women while moving towards where he fought Alex. Whale glanced at him apologetically and tried to shift the women back away from their position, but Alex was obviously using his magic to call them closer as they wouldn't be tempted.

Killian didn't know these women from town, but he certainly didn't want to harm them, and as much as the other men were trying to distract the women, Alex was definitely fighting dirty and had no concern for collateral damage. He shifted to swing at Alex without hurting the woman near him, and saw Alex smile. Too late he realised he'd moved far enough away from Emma for Alex to make a grab at her and pull her towards the portal.

"NO!" Killian darted forward, swinging towards Alex's arm that was reaching forward to grab Emma, not noticing until too late that he was gathering a ball of energy in his other hand. That hand was pointing towards him, aiming to fire.

As the ball left Alex's hand and moved towards him he heard a scream wrench through the air before a flash of light blinded him.

_HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS_

_Emma watched the ensuing battle, pushing at her bars trying to get out, anything that meant she could help Killian with his fight. She rattled at the cages, trying to use her magic to further weaken them, but nothing was working._

_She watched Killian get barged to one side and the sly smile cross Alex's face. When Killian turned to swing, she saw the ball of energy glowing ready to fly in his direction and the cold fear that went through her heart at the thought of Alex killing him turned in to a harsh burn. She saw the energy ball leave his hand and the burn seemed to cut through her_ _just as she screamed his name, and suddenly she was charging forward in front of the energy ball, standing in front of it to protect Killian._

Emma felt the energy ball connect with her chest and fell to the ground as the white flash of its power lit up the entire clearing. She couldn't move, but she heard Killian shout, and another shout, more like a roar of anger from someone on the other side of her.

_HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS_

Killian blinked away the blinding light and realised he was still standing, but crumpled on the ground in front of him lay Emma, his heart plummeted.

"No, please no, EMMA!" He fell to his knees beside her, reaching for her head, checking whether she was breathing.

An inhuman roar broke out and he glanced up to see Alex, eyes glowing with power and a face of pure rage staring at the scene.

"What have you done?! All that power, destroyed. She would have been perfect, and now because of your stupidity she is dead!" He glowered at Killian, standing tall and raising his hands, generating a new ball of energy to fire at him.

Killian stayed kneeling next to Emma, head bowed towards her, tears falling from his face as he cradled her head in his lap.

"That's enough, drop your hands now." David's voice broke through his haze of sorrow and he looked up to see that David held the blade of his sword to Alex's neck, a look of rage crossing his features. Around him, the women and men had stopped fighting and were all turned to look at Alex, threatening action, and Killian realised that whatever spell Alex had cast had broken with Emma's final act of bravery.

He saw Alex's throat bob with a swallow as he glanced towards David and around the clearing, taking in the scene before him and realising how much the tables had turned against him. The only noise in that moment was the swirl from the portal that still churned by the well.

Alex cleared his throat and nodded, dropping his hands. David dropped his sword but held it firm, ready to strike again if he needed to.

"I see there is nothing more for me here. The only thing of value has been destroyed by your foolishness." He grimaced towards Killian.

"OUR FOOLISHNESS? You bastard, YOU were the one that tried to entrap Emma, YOU were the one that tried to use magic during a sword fight. This is all on YOU." Killian felt his rage building as he stood and stepped towards Alex, grabbing for his sword again. David placed a placating hand on his shoulder.

"Killian, stop, there's nothing more we can do, and you need to stay with Emma." Killian frowned at David, and glanced back towards Emma, realising there was a slight rise and fall to her chest. His heart soared, there was still hope. He nodded to David and walked away from Alex towards Emma's body, feeling for her pulse and stroking her hair. Behind him, David kept talking to Alex.

"I suggest you leave now, and never return. We don't ever want to see your face here again." He glowered at Alex, who took a step back towards the portal.

"You've won, for now. But remember, even if she does survive, you will not hold her Pirate. She will be a magical prize for many men, and I am not the worst threat you could face." With one last glare he walked through the portal and with a zip, silence cut through the clearing as everyone stood motionless taking in the scene before them.

Mary Margaret ran towards where Killian, David and Emma were, and crouched down opposite Killian.

"Is she ok? Is she alive?" Tears sprung in her eyes, as she looked between David and Killian.

"Aye, she's breathing so she's still in there somewhere. I don't know what happened, one moment she was stood by Alex, and then she was between me and the energy ball taking the full brunt. It should have killed her." He stroked Emma's hair as he spoke, silently wishing for her to open her eyes.

"Charming, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean any of it, you must know that." She sobbed looking up towards David.

He knelt down next to Mary Margaret and took her hand. "I know that wasn't you, don't worry. For now, let's be strong for Emma." He glanced back at Killian. "I think the best place for her is with Blue, are you able to carry her there?"

"Aye, I can do that, lead the way Dave, I'll be right behind you." He scooped Emma carefully in to his arms and stood to follow David, Mary Margaret and the rest of the crowd out of the woods, all the while speaking quiet words of love in to Emma's ear and praying to the gods that she would wake up.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't own Once Upon a Time or the characters, they all belong to Adam and Eddie.

Emma was floating, the world was white and she felt peaceful.

She looked around her but there was nothing. This wasn't the room with the cage, but this wasn't her world either. She was lying on her back and floating, she couldn't move her arms and legs, she couldn't rotate her body, but she could hear.

The only sound she could detect was a low hum of voices, nothing clear enough for her to make out, but there was definitely a hurried conversation going on somewhere nearby.

If she closed her eyes and focused perhaps they would become clear.

She waited, trying to pick out particular sounds, becoming frustrated when all that achieved was an increase in the volume of the garble, then, suddenly.

"Swan, please, come back to me. If you can hear me, know that I love you, we all love you and you need to come back. If not for me, then for Henry, for your parents!"

She could hear Killians voice clearly, it sounded so sad. She tried to keep her focus on his mutterings, tried to use them as an anchor to pull herself free from whatever this was.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

Blue had finished checking over Emma, glancing back at Mary-Margaret and David and giving a small shake of her head.

"I'm sorry, I've checked and there's nothing I can do. Whatever is keeping her unconscious is out of our control. She needs to find her own way back." she sighed sadly.

"Thank you Blue, thank you for checking." replied Mary-Margaret sadly.

"If you need me, please call, I'm happy to help however I can." Blue replied, picking up her bag and heading for the door of the room they'd placed her in.

"Thank you", David responded, rocking Neil side to side in the corner.

Mary Margaret walked towards Emma's resting form, putting her hand on Killians shoulder as he sat silently staring at her.

"It's my fault, I should have been more aware of what he was doing. I should have seen that he was going to use magic in the fight." Killian scrubbed his face with his hand and looked up to Mary-Margaret with pain filled eyes. Putting his hand on top of hers once again.

"Killian, you tried your best, you did what you could to protect those you love. But you know Emma, she was never one to stand aside when those she loves are in trouble."

Killian huffed and glanced back at Emma, "Ever the saviour eh Swan?". He started to pull his hand from hers and stand up when suddenly he stopped and his eyes widened. He swiftly sat down and leant closer to Emma.

"Killian?" Mary-Margaret was on alert. "Killian what is it?"

"It's Emma. When I stood up and tried to take my hand away, I swear her hand moved. Emma? Emma! Swan! Can you hear me, move your hand again if you can hear me!" He sat there expectantly, holding her hand in his. When nothing happened his shoulders dropped.

"Killian, she's asleep. I'm sorry, as much as we wish she could hear us, I think you're imagining what you hope will happen." Mary-Margaret replied sadly.

"No! No, no, she did, she moved her hand." Even to his own ears he sounded slightly desperate.

"Come on Killian, lets go get you a shower and something to eat." Davids voice came from the back of the room. "I need to take Neil home, Mary-Margaret will stay here and let us know if anything changes." he glanced at his wife, who nodded earnestly.

"Please Killian, go home and get some rest." she said softly.

Killians head dropped to his chest and he sighed, nodding before attempting to stand again. As he went to pull his hand away again he found it held in a tight grip. He looked down and saw Emma's hand holding his tightly.

"Now I know I'm not imagining that! Emma, love can you hear me."

Mary-Margaret moved in next to him and gasped.

"Oh David, she has, she's holding Killians hand,she's moved!" she gestured David forward.

All the while Killian was calling for Emma, talking quietly to her, asking her to squeeze his hand again if only she'd please wake up.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

Killians voice was getting quieter, no, it couldn't go, please stay Killian. She focussed intently on his voice, trying to keep it close, and the volume increased again. This time she could hear him perfectly.

" _Emma? Emma! Swan! Can you hear me, move your hand again if you can hear me!"_

Yes I can hear you Killian, please keep talking! I can't move my hand, I haven't moved it, just keep talking.

A garbled conversation started again, she could just about hear other voices but not clearly. Killian spoke, but the voice started to disappear again.

NO! Emma thought, she put all her energy into pulling that voice back to her, he couldn't leave. This time she felt it, she felt a ghost pressure on her hand, something was there, in her hand. She thought hard about keeping hold of the pressure, keeping it close. She could hear Killian clearly again, he was asking her to wake up, but she didn't know how.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

Killian squeezed her hand, talking quietly to her all the while.

"Please love, come back to me, I'm naught without you here with me." He rested his forehead on her stomach, squeezing her hand again. He found his cheeks were wet but he didn't care.

"Please Emma, I love you." he moved up and kissed her lips lightly, praying this would work.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

There was a burst of prismic light in Emma's world, she felt the pressure on her lips (not at all weird she groused).

The constant holding of her hand was now clear, a slight drip of wet on her face (really? Raining in the dream world?) and the constant low reassurance of Killian calling her back.

She focussed on the feel of what she assumed was his hand, the sound of his voice, and pulled with all her might. Suddenly there was a blinding light, only marred by the shadow of a figure. Emma blinked to settle her eyesight, and was met by the bleary eyed smile of Killian, looking haggard but overjoyed as she looked at him.

"Swan" he gasped before leaning down for a crushing hug.

Emma squeaked and lifted her hands carefully to place them on his sides.

"Killian," she gasped, "Killian, crushing me a bit here!"

Killian pulled back looking sheepish, but still grinning ear to ear. Mary-Margaret and David bustled over to her other side, also smiling.

"Emma, oh god, you're awake." Mary-Margaret looked like she was about to burst into tears. David tucked his spare arm around her waist.

"Emma, please don't keep scaring us like this, your mother gets panicky for days afterwards!" David tried to joke, but received an elbow in the ribs and a glare from his wife for the trouble.

Emma tried to chuckle, but it just came out as a tired breath.

"I'll go get Blue!" Mary-Margaret shifted quickly towards the door and out of the room.

Emma looked between David and Killian. "Where's Henry?" she asked

"Ah, we thought it best not to have the lad with us at the moment. He's at home with Regina right now. He was understandably upset with the whole situation." Killian frowned.

"I should ring them, tell him I'm ok." Emma tried to sit up, but a hand on her shoulder from Killian forced her down onto the bed.

"Ah, ah. You should rest Swan. I'll ring Regina and your lad and let them know you're awake. I'm sure they'll want to be here to see you." He smiled down at her, squeezed her shoulder and headed towards the door.

"Killian?" she called.

"Aye Swan?" he turned back to look at her.

"Thank you. I could hear you, I just couldn't reply, but you helped me find my way back." she said gently.

He gave her a small smile, before looking down towards his toes.

"Aye, well. That's what we all do best isn't it. Find our way back to one another." He looked at her sadly, glanced at David and turned and left the room.

Emma sighed and looked at David.

"How will he ever forgive me, god..this is so screwed up!" her hand went up to cover her face.

"Emma, calm down. He'll forgive you for exactly the same reason I forgave Mary-Margaret. We love you both, and there's nothing to actually forgive. That wasn't you, you were buried so deep by the end there I don't think you had any idea what you were doing?" he took Emma's hand in his.

"Emma, you need to forgive yourself, but that's it. Killian loves you. Sure things might be a bit awkward for a while, but he understands, we all do." he said kindly, giving her a smile.

Emma smiled. "Nothing like a good old fashion pep-talk in this family is there?"

David winked, "Just don't tell your mum I said that, I plan to milk this for a few days."

Emma gasped and gave him a smack on the arm.

"What is it with you both and physical abuse!" he said in mock offence.

"Yeah well, you earned it." she grinned, just as Mary-Margaret walked back in with Blue.

"What has he earned?" she smiled at them both.

"Just a steaming hot mug of hot chocolate and an undisturbed night sleep," David replied cheekily before Emma could get a word in.

Blue walked over to Emma and quickly checked her over before nodding and smiling at her.

"Emma, it looks like the influence you were under has gone. You'll be fine, but perhaps a few days rest wouldn't go amiss?" she arched an eyebrow at Emma, making it clear that this was not casual advice.

Emma smiled sheepishly and heard David's voice "Don't worry Blue, I'll make sure she rests up for a few days before she's allowed back in the office." before pointedly glaring at Emma, making it clear he wouldn't argue the point.

Emma sighed and nodded.

"Can I atleast get out of bed now?"

"Of course, we only wanted you where we could keep an eye, but since you're awake and you seem fine I have no problem with you going home to rest." Blue smiled "I hope we can all put this entire affair behind us now." and with that she turned and left the room.

Emma sat up, stretching her sore body and glancing at Mary-Margaret.

"Am I still welcome at the apartment?"

"Of course Emma, you're always welcome there." Mary-Margaret smiled at Emma reassuringly. "David, I'll help Emma get sorted and we'll meet you at home ok?"

David nodded and carried Neil out into the corridor.

He stopped dead when he saw Killian leaning against the wall outside.

"Killian, you know you can go in again now don't you?" he asked quietly.

"Aye, I know. I just can't...I don't know what to think about all of this right now. Emma needs her family by her side. Things between us were good, but this could ruin all of that. I love her Dave, but this could put her right back behind those walls I've spent so long breaking down." he looked at David sadly. "I've called Regina and she and Henry are on their way. I'm sure if you call them on those portable telephones you can divert their course to your home before they get too far. Tell Emma…..don't worry, don't say anything to Emma, just get her home and safe Dave. I'll see you in a few days." he straightened up, preparing to leave.

"So that's it, all of this and you're going to hide in your ship?" David said incredulously.

"Not hide Dave, tactical retreat. Let the dust settle for a few days and then check the lay of the land. When Emma is ready to talk, she'll come and see me, but if I push things could go the other way." he turned from David and walked out towards the convent exit, leaving David staring after him.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do not own anything related to Once Upon a time or its characters. This all belongs to Adam and Eddie!

Emma sat quietly in the apartment holding a coffee.

It had been a week since she’d seen Killian. A week since the day she’d woken up after that nightmare and no one had seen him in town. She knew Ruby was dropping takeout to the Jolly every evening, but even she hadn’t seen him. Money was sitting outside the cabin door when she arrived and when she’d called one time, was just told in no uncertain terms to leave the food by the door and leave.

With a huff of irritation she stood up, that was enough. He could stop this stupidity right now.

“Emma?” Mary-Margaret walked out of the kitchen, Neil in one arm, his bottle in the other hand.

“I’ve had enough. He’s hiding in that ship not seeing anyone, apart from maybe the woman on the rum bottle. I’m going to go there and straighten this out.” she said firmly, grabbing her jacket from the back of the sofa.

“If you’re sure Emma?” Mary-Margaret said quietly. Emma nodded and turned to leave.

“He loves you.” Emma stopped and glanced back. “You need to remember that above everything else. He loves you. He was devastated that you stepped in front of him and got hurt. He has a hard shell but he’s hurting inside. Sit down and talk to him properly.”

Emma nodded and left the apartment, determined to sort this out.

“It’ll be fine” came David's voice and Mary-Margaret turned to look at her husband.

“I hope you’re right,” replied Mary-Margaret quietly and leaned in to huge him. A squawk from Neil had them separating and glancing down at the unimpressed child glaring at both of them.

There was a small chuckle from David and a tut from Mary-Margaret as they turned back to their respective tasks.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

Emma walked on to the Jolly Roger quietly, looking around at the deck. A few empty bottles by the mast were the only clue that someone stayed aboard the ship, that or teenagers were taking advantage of Killians lack of attention to have some very brave parties.

Walking to the cabin door, she knocked quietly, listening for any noise from within. A slight shuffle, a clink of bottles and a groan was all that came in response. She sighed.

*bang, bang, bang* she knocked harder

“Killian, come on, I know you’re in there. Open up!” she yelled through the door.

A muffled curse, more bottles and footsteps came in response. Emma stepped back as the door swung open and a very dishevelled Killian stared back at her.

“Swan. Uhhh, good...morning?” he said, looking at the sky to establish exactly what time of day it was.

“Only just Killian”, she gave a small smile. “Can we talk?” she asked quietly.

Killian cleared his throat and looked back into his cabin, before glancing back at Emma.

“Yes, umm. Give me 2 minutes to tidy this place up and then you can come in.”

Before Emma could answer, the door was shut in her place and hurried footsteps and clanking could be heard from within. Emma chuckled to herself and looked out at the clear day while she waited. A crash and muffled curse came from within bringing Emma back to what she was there to do.

“Killian, are you ok?” no answer, “Killian, I’m coming in.” She pushed the door open and walked into a half-destroyed cabin. The only thing that seemed in its proper place was the bed, but probably because it was stuck there. The chair and table were on their side, a pile of bottles lay in the corner, and there were clothes on the floor.

“Killian…” she sighed as she looked at the man sat on the edge of the bed with his head in his hands.

He glanced up and had the grace to look embarrassed for the state of the room. 

“Swan, I’m sorry. No lady should have to witness a mans room in this state, we can go up on deck so you don’t have to see this.” He started to rise, but Emma walked over, took his hand and sat down next to him.

“You don’t have to apologise to me Killian, this has been a rough time for everyone. Please don’t feel embarrassed.” she looked at him and saw the bags under his eyes. “Have you slept at all recently?”

“Aye, a bit, but as you can see, I’ve lots to entertain me around the ship so plenty of reasons to stay awake” he put a false smile on, looking around his cabin.

“Killian, I’m sorry. I should have come sooner. But you should have talked to someone. Ruby told me you wouldn’t even come out of the cabin when she delivered you food.” she squeezed his hand.

“Red is a good friend, but I couldn’t, wouldn’t face her right now.” he sighed, “Swan, I know this has been tough on you, on your entire family, and I didn’t want to get in the way of that. I want to give you all the time you need to heal, and I’ll be here waiting for you when you’re ready.” 

Emma looked around the room again, “Yeah, I don’t want to think about what this room would be like if I’d waited any longer.” she grimaced at the thought then looked back at Killian. “I need you Killian,” he jerked in surprise and looked at her. “You are part of my family, and you need to heal too. We need to heal together, and we need to talk about this. Tell me, what’s wrong?”

Killian sighed and looked up, looking for some sort of inspiration, clearing his throat he looked at her.

“Swan, you deserve so much, you are so incredibly good. You fight for everyone in town. You have a wonderful family, a strapping boy, and parents who love you dearly. When things get difficult you fight so hard, regardless of your own safety, and for some unknown reason you’ve been happy for me to be involved. I feel truly blessed that you have wanted me in your life as long as you have, and I will never take that for granted.”

Emma swallowed down the tears brewing but one escaped down her cheek.

Killian took his hand back and brushed the tear away with his fingertip.

“Emma, I love you, more than I thought I could ever love anyone but myself. I would fight any number of battles to keep you safe, but I would never force you to remain by my side when you have the whole world at your fingertips. I always feared that you would one day realise how unworthy of your attention I was, and this incident has given me a taste of how that would feel.” Emma went to interrupt him, but he held up his hand to stop her.

“I know. I know you didn’t pick him, this was forced upon you against your will, but it still hurt me deeply. I want you to know, I will support whatever you choose from here on out, but know that I will always love you, and I will never love another person as I love you.”

Emma sat there stunned, tears silently streaming down her face. Killian stood to walk across the room, but was halted by Emma grabbing his hand.

“You.” she said, he turned to look at her, a question in his eyes. “I choose you Killian. It will always be you, please never doubt that. I love you Killian, I’m sorry this has ended up so messed up, I can’t even begin to tell you how sorry I am about what has happened, my part in all of this, but please know, above everything, I love you, and I choose you.” She looked at him, praying he would respond, come back to her.

She saw his jaw clench and his eyes close for a moment, trying to gain control of his emotions. 

“Emma love…” his voice came out gravelly, showing all the emotion he was trying to keep inside. “I would stay with you forever if you will have me.” He looked so hopeful. 

She stood up and walked to him, putting her hands on his cheeks and pulling his forehead to hers. “I will take your forever and raise you eternity,” she raised her eyebrow in an attempt at his gesture and gave him a cheeky smile.

He grinned at her pulling back and taking her hand in his, “Aye well, you should know never to gamble with a pirate.”

He pulled her flush to his chest and leant in for a deep kiss, putting all his pent up feeling in to it, showing her how much he’d missed her. Emma gasped and wrapped her arms around his waist, keeping him close. He pulled back a bit, his joy reflecting her own, before her nose wrinkled a bit.

“I’m happy with forever or eternity, but right now you need a shower Pirate.” Killian chuckled and had the grace to look sheepish. “Aye, well, that’s something that I think I can achieve m’lady”. He did a mock bow to her and started picking up his table and chairs, Emma grinning and she went to help him sort out the Cabin.

  
  


HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

  
  


Sitting in their booth at Grannies Emma looked around at her family. Killian was busy talking to Henry about something, David and Mary-Margaret were making a fuss of Neil, and Regina and Robin continued their strange but wonderful romance. 

Emma let out a contented smile as she took it all in, noticing Ruby heading over with their lunch. 

Putting the plates on the table, Ruby glanced around before looking at Emma and grinning.

“Hey Emma, I hear there’s a ladies night at the bar again Friday night, do you fancy trying a night out again? Mary-Margaret?” glancing over at her next to David.

The slam of a cup hitting the table was punctuated by two “NO!”’s from the men. Emma and Mary-Margaret looked at their partners in surprise, seeing the determination on David’s face and the slightest hint of fear on Killians. 

The twitch at the side of Ruby’s mouth indicated that this was the response she’d been expecting, and Emma chuckled slightly.

“I think we’ll pass Ruby, but thank you for the offer”, she answered, nodding politely.

She looked back to see both men visibly relax, although David looked like he’d run the next person who proposed a night out through with a sword. Grinning, she started up an entirely unrelated conversation with Henry and Killian to distract them, and thanked everything above and below that things were peaceful for now.

  
  



End file.
